


so star stuck (baby could you blow my heart up)

by bakedgarnet



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/F, Pearlnet, Volleyball
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-11
Updated: 2017-07-09
Packaged: 2018-10-02 18:30:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 35,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10224422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bakedgarnet/pseuds/bakedgarnet
Summary: In which Garnet is Homeworld University’s volleyball star and Pearl is the team’s number one fan after missing her own chance to play in the wake of an injury.orPearl was supposed to go to college, attend her classes, study and graduate in four years or less. She was not supposed to fall in love with the captain of the volleyball team. She's only 18. What the hell does she know about love, anyway?





	1. Chapter 1

Shaded eyes chanced a millisecond glance at the scoreboard on the opposite end of the gym—25 to 24—before tracking the ball being set to her. The height and speed of the set were perfect— courtesy of her most trusted setter. Garnet approached, the first step more of a gauge than anything else, and the last two only increasing her speed until she propelled into the air. 

 

She felt her arm and hand crank back and immediately slam down with an immensely satisfying  _ smack _ atop the ball. It ricocheted off of her hand and pounded directly to the floor with her powerful speed through the 6 foot tall middle’s block. 

 

The refferee’s whistle sounded sharply throughout the gym, and his arms forming an X across his chest signaled the end of the game. Reality didn’t set in until her team mates were surrounding her in a bone crushing group hug, and suddenly the fog in her ears cleared enough to allow the sound of jubilant fans chanting her name like a mantra rush in all at once. 

 

A smile broke out across her damp face and she released a victorious yell that seemed to get lost in her team’s own screaming. She quickly lead them all to the end of the net to begin their common rule of sportsmanship: smack hands and congratulate the other team on a good game. 

 

She met the defeated and slightly aggressive eyes of every girl on the other side of the net as she touched their hands, and once her entire team had finished going down the line, they swarmed their captain with deafening cheers. Sweaty arms wrapped tightly around Garnet’s long torso and glistening foreheads pressed firmly to her chest, neck and back from all sides. 

 

The audience in the stands beat the bottoms of their shoes against the bleachers and joined in the celebration with overwhelming energy. A particularly familiar voice called out that somehow stretched the smile on Garnet’s face even wider.

 

“ _ Yeah, Garnet _ !” The high pitched yell slipped into her ears like a chug of ice water after five by five sprints at the end of practice. 

 

The tall woman pulled away from her team to turn back and search the stands for the woman the voice belonged to. She caught the twinkling, blue eyed gaze of the owner of that voice. She wished—not for the first time—that she knew her name. 

 

Whenever she asked her team mates about the stranger, no one could tell her what her name was or even what year she was in. By the time they would finish their team meetings after each game, and Garnet found her way back up to the gym from the locker room, the woman was always gone.

 

Her coach was calling her name, and Garnet whirled back around to pay attention. This time, as every time, when Garnet turned back around to maybe make eye contact with the woman again, she was stepping down the bleachers and making her way to the exit.

 

And Garnet was left, as every time, hoping maybe she would run into her on campus one day. 

 

\\\\\

 

Amazingly, Garnet’s luck hadn't run out. 

 

It was a Saturday morning, obscenely early for most students who weren’t college athletes, and Garnet had made her way to the cafe by her dorm. The gentle breeze rustled the leaves atop towering trees, and the freshly risen sun shone down with no real force of heat behind its bright rays. She wore nothing but gray sweats and one of the many maroon shirts she had gotten for being on the school’s volleyball team. 

 

She was tugging at the curls atop her head, trying in vain to get her still damp hair into a ponytail. Her ponytail holder was held between her teeth as both hands wrestled in her hair and she pushed the cafe door open with her hip. She almost dropped the ponytail holder in shock when her mismatched eyes fell on a familiar short cut of strawberry blonde hair. 

 

Garnet rushed to throw her hair into a haphazard bundle of curls and, with her hands now free, she tried to decide between getting her drink and food first or introducing herself to this stranger before she could disappear again. 

 

With a deep and determined breath, she used the long length of her legs to close the distance between them in no time at all. The pale woman was bent over a heavy textbook with a pen being chewed to bits between her straight teeth. Her short hair was damp and brushed straight back until it stopped perfectly at the nape of her elegant neck. Her hoodie practically engulfed her entire body, and the running shorts she wore rode up a bit with the way she sat in the chair: one leg propped up so that her chin could rest on her knee and the other dangling off the front. 

 

“‘Scuse me.” Garnet said softly, drawing the pale woman’s gaze up from her book only to watch her gentle blue eyes go comically round. 

 

Her pink lips parted in surprise, and the pen previously between her teeth dropped unceremoniously onto the wooden table and rolled a bit before coming to a halt. 

 

“G-Garnet!” She sputtered for a moment, her freckled face turning an adorable shade of pink as she tried in vain to adjust her appearance.

 

Garnet released an amused chuckle as she watched this peculiar stranger fumble about.

 

“Nice to finally meet you.” Garnet said, hand out to shake. 

 

The sitting woman gave a nervous laugh and daintily tucked her wiry hand into Garnet’s slightly larger one. 

 

“I— oh my gosh…” The stranger pulled her hand back once they had shaken and pressed both of her own against her face in a last effort to hide her profuse blushing.

 

“Sorry, this is so embarrassing— I didn't do anything to my face or anything, oh my stars—”

 

“No, no you look great! I mean… there's no need to do anything special. It's just me.” Garnet chuckled nervously, drumming her fingers against her thighs for lack of anything else to do. 

 

“Can I have your name?” Garnet asked before the budding silence could bloom into anything awkward.

 

“Oh, Pearl— My name is Pearl.” She said in one breath. 

 

Garnet gave a warm smile and Pearl quickly gestured for her to have a seat. As the volleyball player slipped into the cushioned chair, Pearl continued to rub away at the heat on her cheeks. 

 

“I can't believe I’ve never seen you outside the gym before.” Garnet said, regarding her new companion with interest.

 

“And I can't believe you have an accent.” Pearl said without thinking, then shook her head with a deepening blush once she realized what she had said.

 

“Sorry, that was rude. Of course everyone has an accent… not to say that yours isn't special because it is—”

 

“No, you're fine.” Garnet laughed. “I guess you wouldn't hear me talk much unless I’m yellin’ for the ball. Or yellin’ in general. Volleyball’s a pretty loud sport.” She cracked a smile. 

 

Pearl looked down at her text book with burning ears. 

 

“You're at all of our games.” Garnet stated more than asked, and round blue eyes shot back up to look at her.

 

“Yeah… I played volleyball in high school, but only got an academic scholarship for this college. I really wanted to come here, so here I am. Watching the team from a distance.” Pearl’s lips curled a bit into a tiny smile and she picked her pen back up to fidget with it. 

 

“Well, thanks for being our number one fan. What position were you?” 

 

Pearl’s eyes lit up as she remembered some of her favorite years, “I played your position, actually. Outside hitter.” 

 

Garnet’s interest piqued and she grinned widely, “Were you any good?”

 

Pearl laughed a bit wistfully behind her thin fingers and looked off to the side.

 

“I was phenomenal, if I say so myself. I was on the last leg of the recruiting process my junior year—offers from three Big Ten schools not including this one. Then I tore my ACL, and…you know how that goes.” 

 

Garnet’s face fell into one of utter sympathy. Pearl drew her bottom lip between her teeth and forced a smile.

 

“But it’s fine because my grades and ACT scores were great enough to get me a full ride here if not an athletic scholarship, and I get to watch you lead the team to greatness. It works out in the end.” 

She shrugged as if she had already grieved over the subject and come to terms with the tragedy. 

 

Garnet smiled bashfully and straightened out her athletic t-shirt. 

 

“Thanks for always cheering me on. I always play harder when I see you in the stands.” She said, feeling heat rush to her cheeks and neck. 

 

“That's—really?” Light blue eyes went alight at the confession and Garnet cast her own gaze downward to avoid the radiance. 

 

“Yeah… the team calls you our number one fan, mine especially, considering you cheer for me the loudest.” Garnet cracked a teasing smile when Pearl’s face visibly reddened again. 

 

“Not to— sound weird or anything, I just— I really admire you as a player. You remind me a lot of myself before I was out, and…yeah.” She trailed off awkwardly with a little laugh. 

 

Garnet played with the drawstring of her sweats and felt her face continue to burn.

 

“Would you want to hang out sometime? I’ve got to head to class in a bit, but I’d rather not take the chance of never seeing you around campus again.” 

 

Pearl’s blinding smile was entirely genuine when she nodded quickly, reaching across the table to one of her two open notebooks and ripping out a blank sheet from the back. Her pale fingers turned the pen in her hand right side up and she wrote out her name and cellphone number in the neatest, most elegant script Garnet had ever witnessed freehand. 

 

The taller woman took the offered sheet and folded it carefully before slipping it with great care into one of the many pockets of her sport-brand sweats. Garnet stood from the table and bid Pearl a goodbye before making her exit as hastily as possible without running from the shop. 

 

Only when she was outside and a fair distance toward the Soft Sciences department did her stomach growl, and she realized with a palm smacking her forehead that she had forgotten to get breakfast. 

 

She kept walking.

 

\\\\\

 

[9:54pm]  _ hey it’s garnet _

 

[10:05pm] Hey! 

 

[10:07]  _ team and i are hanging out in my room, they want you to come through _

 

[10:08] Just them? 

 

[10:08]  _...and maybe one other person :) _

 

[10:09] What dorm?

 

[10:09]  _ temple. room 303 _

 

[10:27] On my way

 

\\\\\

 

Pearl eyed the door warily, hearing the slightly loud and very joyous voices on the opposite side of it. This wasn’t her team, and yet they wanted to include her.  _ Garnet _ wanted to include her. That thought alone siphoned enough courage into her system to bring her pale fist up to the door and knock several times.

 

“It’s open!” An unfamiliar voice from inside shouted, and that hand moved down to twist the door handle. 

 

Sure enough, it gave under her fingers. Pearl stepped inside of the room slowly, taking in the six or so girls lounging around in either the kitchen or the living room. Blue eyes found Garnet’s long form first, sprawled out across the entire couch with an open litre bottle of water in one hand and her cellphone in the other. 

 

Her head tilted back to look over the arm of the couch behind her head upon Pearl’s arrival. They made eye contact, upside down on Garnet’s end, and the athlete’s face broke into a heart stopping smile.

 

“ _ Pearl _ , you came!” The other girls looked up at that, and their faces similarly displayed some variation of the joy Garnet had initiated. 

 

The pale woman felt a smile tug at her own lips and she awkwardly stood by the door after closing it behind her. 

 

Garnet shifted to make space on the edge of the couch, pressing her own body further up against the back of it. She patted the space cleared beside her laid out body and Pearl daintily stepped over several girls sitting on the floor to take her seat where Garnet had offered it.

 

“So  _ that’s  _ your name!” A tan skinned girl with dyed, dark blue hair seemed to sigh with relief. “Sounds kinda familiar…” The stranger shrugged and waved the thought off. 

 

Had all of them really no clue what her name was until just then? 

 

Garnet shifted behind Pearl’s rigid back and turned more to face everyone. 

 

“Pearl, that’s Lapis, our lovely setter and co-captain. That’s Amethyst, our libero and resident food vacuum. That’s Peridot; she’s the team manager and tech genius. We love her very dearly. And finally, we have Jasper and Opal— our middles and rumored body builders. These are just the upperclassmen. The frosh and sophomores went out to dinner.” 

 

“Except for me.”

 

“Shit, right, except for Lapis. I keep forgetting you’re a freshman.”

 

Each had waved warmly to Pearl after being introduced and gone back to whatever they were doing in a way that was so subtly welcoming that she almost couldn’t believe it. 

 

She turned her light eyes over her shoulder and caught Garnet already looking at her. 

The taller woman held her gaze in silence for only a moment before asking, “What were you doing when I so rudely interrupted your night?”

Pearl felt her cheeks warm a bit and replied, 

 

“Studying… as always.” 

 

Garnet chuckled and rested her head back down until she was gazing at the ceiling. 

 

“That’s good. I’m sorry I dragged you away from that. If you wanna head back—”

 

“No! I mean, no, I want to be here.” Pearl said nervously as she folded and unfolded her fingers.

 

“Thanks for inviting me… I don’t leave my dorm much unless it's for class or food.” 

Pearl could feel Garnet’s chuckle vibrate against her back in a way that caused her stomach to flutter.

 

“You some sort of social outcast? What year are you anyway?”

 

Pearl’s hands wrung together atop her thighs and she turned her gaze back to scan the room and the various older women occupying it.

 

“Freshman.” She said with a guilty lilt to her tone that made Garnet’s eyebrows shoot toward her hairline.

 

“Are you havin’ a laugh?” 

 

Pearl’s face crumpled just slightly in confusion when she turned back around to face her new companion and Garnet quickly amended, remembering where she was.

 

“You’re joking?” 

 

Pearl’s face reddened considerably and she shot Garnet a close-lipped smile. 

 

“Nope. It’s my first year here. I get that reaction a lot though.” 

 

The taller woman regarded her for a long moment with a neutral expression while her dual colored eyes roved Pearl’s face.

 

“I suppose without makeup you did look sort of young, but if I were to guess now I’d think you were at least a junior…” Garnet shook her head, “One more freshman I’m gonna have to remember is, in fact,  _ not _ the same grade as me.”

 

Pearl was suddenly aware of the “natural” makeup look she had completed before making her way to Garnet’s dorm; natural being foundation, slight contour and highlight, and filled in brows. 

 

“Shit, dude, that's makeup?” Amethyst’s stunned voice piped up from where she lay sprawled on her back beside the television set. Her large brown eyes were zeroed in on Pearl’s face with fascination. The pale woman smiled bashfully and nodded. 

 

“Ah, yes. Just a little bit—”

 

“Coulda fooled me.” Amethyst mused, dropping her head back down against the carpet to continue scrolling through whatever app was open on her phone.

 

“That's because you haven't even touched a mascara brush in all twenty years of your life.” Opal murmured amusedly from the other end of the room, her behind sunken into a bean bag chair as she typed away at an essay on her laptop. 

 

Amethyst rolled over onto her stomach to look at her teammate with a protest on her lips, but one look from Opal across the room killed it before it could come to fruition.

 

“Fair point.” Amethyst said and flopped back down fully onto the floor. Garnet chuckled, and the low sound sent a pleasant  _ hum _ through Pearl’s chest.

 

“What was I saying?” Garnet asked when Pearl swirled her gaze back around to face her.

 

“...I don't remember.” The strawberry blonde admitted with a nervous little giggle and suddenly a new voice was thrown into the mix.

 

“Would you two get a room? I’m working on something extremely important and your nauseating googly eyes and flirtatious laughter is immensely distracting.” Peridot grumbled from opposite Opal in another bean bag chair with her face pressed within inches of her own much larger laptop, the glow illuminating her glasses with white and blue light. 

 

“Alright, alright. Love you too, Peri.” Garnet said with a grin as she reached around Pearl to set her water bottle down on the coffee table and stretched her limbs before sitting up.

Her long legs swung around until they brushed against Pearl’s, and then Garnet was standing and offering her guest a hand. Pearl took it gently and pulled herself upward, slightly surprised that Garnet was truly going to find them somewhere more private to talk. 

 

The thought sent a burst of nervousness throughout her stomach and broke her hands into a clammy sweat. Stars, she hoped Garnet didn't notice.

 

She followed her to one of the two bedrooms in the dorm room, a growing envy for the larger dorm rooms the upperclassmen received spreading through her. Garnet closed the door until it was cracked partially open behind them and fell back onto her own bed with a satisfied sigh of comfort. 

 

Her long arms folded beneath the mass of curls atop her head and dual colored eyes peered over her generous chest to look at Pearl standing hesitantly by the door. 

 

“Sorry ‘bout that. Peridot’s very uptight about her tech work. You can sit wherever you'd like.” 

 

Pearl’s eyes scanned the room for a suitable place to sit that wasn't on what she assumed was Garnet’s roommate's bed, and they landed on the rolling desk chair adjacent to her new friend. 

 

She did a quick sweep of Garnet’s side of the room out of curiosity more than anything. The countless photographs of Garnet with who must have been her friends and family took up one entire spot of the wall beside her bed. 

 

Bits of random pieces of memories were dispersed throughout— movie ticket stubs, post-it notes with words that probably only held relevance to Garnet and the writer, countless surprisingly artistically advanced doodles and sketches drawn on torn out sheets of notebook paper. 

 

One photo in particular stood out, considering that it was the largest. One of Garnet in perhaps her early teenage years, her smile bright and her curls almost engulfing her youth-rounded face. 

 

Two women stood on either side of her. The one on the left was a shade darker than Garnet with shorter, tighter curls and a rainbow dyed headband pushing them backward. Her eyes were closed tight in a cheek-aching, full toothed smile that took over her entire face. 

 

The woman to the right was much more reserved, yet it was clear that she was equally as happy as the other two. Her dyed blonde hair was wind swept, and a large chunk of her S-curl tresses had blown across her tan face and covered both of her eyes as the picture was taken. A lei of rainbow colored flowers adorned her elegant neck, and her grin was not as large as the woman on the left’s, but the absolute joy on her face was as clear as day. 

 

Then stood Garnet in the middle, skin a near perfect blend of the women on either side of her. She wore a rainbow colored beaded necklace and the picture showed her raising a gay pride flag above her head, high and proud. 

 

What must have been the Pride Parade went on busily in the unfocused background of the high resolution image, and Pearl’s eyes stayed glued to it long enough for Garnet to follow her gaze.

 

“Those are my moms.” She smiled proudly before turning her eyes back to Pearl, whose brows shot up in surprise.

 

“Both of them?” 

 

Garnet’s laugh was full and rich, and the dimple on her right cheek must have been deep enough to drown in.

 

“Yes, both of them. I’ve got two.” 

 

Pearl’s cheeks burned scarlet and she quickly found the wooden flooring extremely interesting as she tried to get her blush under control.

 

“Sorry, that was stupid—”

 

“Pearl, you've got to stop beating yourself up around me. You shouldn't do it at all, really. There's nothing to be nervous about,” Garnet sent that charming, reassuring smile in her direction as soon as she looked up.

 

“Especially since I already like you.”

 

Pearl’s head snapped up immediately, the control of her burning face not only forgotten, but futile.

 

“What?” She squeaked, and Garnet eyed her strangely for a moment.

 

“You're a really sweet person. Why wouldn't I like you? The team does as well.”

 

The realization that Garnet had purely meant a platonic “liking” quickly and simultaneously made her stomach drop and her heart slow down. She tried harder than anything to make sure her disappointment wasn't as plain as day on her face.

 

“Right! Yeah of course,” she forced a laugh, “I like everyone, too.” Pearl smiled and clasped her hands together in front of her body before moving to that desk chair she had seen earlier and lowering herself into it daintily.

 

“What's your major?” She quickly asked before the silence could build into the awaiting awkwardness it was heading for. Garnet rolled over on her side to look at Pearl and propped her head up on one fist.

 

“Psychology. I want to be a marriage counselor.” Garnet chuckled a bit, knowing it wasn't a common desire.

Pearl’s eyebrows raised in interest and she could feel the corners of her lips tugging upward involuntarily.

 

“Why?— Not to say there's anything wrong with that at all, it's just unusual.” 

 

“My moms are so in love with each other you can't separate them if you tried, literally. I want to help other couples be like that— or at least as close to that kind of love they can get.”

 

It was such an honest and pure answer that Pearl was left speechless for a moment, her lips parted as she tried and failed to say anything back. 

 

Garnet looked at her expression and cracked a smile, “Sorry. Too much?”

 

“No, that's…amazing. I wish I had an answer like that for why I chose my own major.” 

 

“Which is?”

 

“Mechanical engineering,” Pearl said. “I just really like working with machines.” She admitted with a shy smile.

 

Garnet’s laugh engulfed the room with a warmth that settled comfortably over Pearl’s shoulders.

 

“It's as good a reason as any. As long as it's something you care about; that's really all that matters.” 

 

“You know, that's the first time anyone's ever told me that.”

 

“Then you need better friends.”

 

Pearl scoffed, “It’s generous of you to assume that I have any.” 

 

The comfort that Garnet seemed to emanate allowed Pearl to feel a bit looser in both her words in her posture. The tension in her shoulders seemed to dissipate. 

 

“Don’t you?” Garnet asked.

 

“Not… really.”

 

“Well, you’ve got at least one.”

  
Pearl’s brows creased in confusion at first, but when Garnet pointed two thumbs at herself with a wink and a grin, a smile took over her entire face. The heat licking at her cheeks and neck were probably never going to go away, and so she resigned herself to no longer worry about it, instead deciding to just exist with this wonderful person she just happened to finally run into outside of the volleyball court. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose hands out romance advice like candy, and Pearl just can't seem to compose herself around Garnet.

“ _ Garnet _ , Garnet? The volleyball player?” Rose’s voice was a bit louder than Pearl would have liked. 

 

She hoped their whispering wasn’t nearly loud enough to draw the attention of any of the other hundred students in the lecture hall. 

 

“Yes, that Garnet.” Pearl said around a budding smile.

 

“Is that why you've been so… bubbly lately?” Rose asked. “I usually can't even get you to smile at my stupid puns half the time, and you've been giggling at all of them for days now.”

 

“Rose, you know I love you to death, but sometimes they're just bad puns.” Pearl said. 

 

Rose’s full lips parted with immediate protest, “There’s no such thing as a bad pun, Pearl.” 

 

To placate her roommate, Pearl relented without fight.

 

“Okay, fine, but back to Garnet—”

 

“Oh, yes! Please, tell me more.” Rose said excitedly, and the energy she gave off reminded Pearl of a large, wriggly puppy.

 

“She’s been inviting me to her dorm room to hang out with her and the rest of the team— well, the upperclassmen anyway. They’re probably the only juniors and seniors that know my name.” Pearl said, voice ending in a trail of awe. “And I’m sure she’s just doing it to be nice— I told her about my injury— but I appreciate the gesture. She’s just a really kind person.”

 

Rose’s eyebrows drew together and upward in a look that Pearl could tell was about to come right alongside a small lecture.

 

“Pearl, maybe she really enjoys spending time with you. The team might, too. You have to stop thinking that everyone that’s nice to you is nice out of pity.” Rose said calmly, placing a thick, warm hand on her best friend’s thin arm.

 

The shorter woman seemed to curl into herself, her shoulders turning inward, and she sighed a bit through her nose.

 

“I know, I know. Sorry, it’s a habit.”

 

“Don’t apologize.”

 

“Sor—” 

 

Rose cut off her follow up apology with a pointed, warning look. Pearl smiled guiltily and fidgeted with the the pen in her hands as she waited to hear something else of importance she should be writing down. 

 

She knew that Rose would be far too distracted to take any good notes, and she would probably end up taking a picture of them to send to her best friend some time later this week anyway.

 

“I want to ask her out?” Pearl said, though her voice came out unsure as if she were asking a question. “She has two moms and this huge picture of all of them at a pride parade, but I don’t know if she was there for  _ them _ or because she also likes women…?” She huffed and dropped her cheeks into her hands. The pen between her fingers tapped against her temple quickly.

 

“Was she flirting with you?”

 

“I would say yes, but she’s also just really friendly. I think she acts that way with everybody,” Pearl turned her eyes away from her droning professor and looked at Rose with pouting eyes, “I have no idea what I’m doing.”

 

After a long beat, Rose’s dark eyes widened dramatically, and her hands clasped in front of her generous chest with glee.

 

“I have the perfect place if you decide to ask her out!”

 

“Keep your voice down!” Pearl hissed, glancing around to make sure they hadn't drawn any unwanted attention. When she settled her gaze back on her friend, Rose looked so excited to share the location with her that any annoyance immediately fell away.

 

“There's this  _ really _ cute little public art center close by. It's so tiny and to the side that most people would never glance twice, but it's such a quaint, beautiful place for an intimate date. So there’s no need to be  _ intimidate- _ ed. ” 

 

Pearl groaned into her hands and wondered how much trouble she’d get in if she got caught smashing her face into the table in front of her. 

  
Regardless, she pondered the idea for a moment, and she knew deep down something small and intimate would be best for the nerves that arose when even thinking about Garnet.

 

“Despite that god-awful pun... that place sounds perfect.”

 

Rose looked smug.

 

///

 

Garnet met her in baggy sweat pants, a fitted sports hoodie adorned in the team’s emblem and some brand name athletic sneakers. Her feet were silent against the sidewalk as she got closer to Pearl, who stood in the entrance of the art center. The thin woman’s arms were hugged tightly against her torso as she bounced on the balls of her Chelsea boots in the cold morning. 

 

As Garnet got closer, a heady waft of some warm smelling scent just barely tickled Pearl’s nose. She inhaled deeper.

 

“Stars, you smell good,” she said without thinking. 

 

Garnet’s laugh engulfed them both as she came to a stop a couple feet from her new friend. 

 

“Good morning to you, too. Thanks, it’s probably my hair.” She pulled one of her curls around her face and below her nose to inhale before nodding in the affirmative. “Yep, definitely my hair.”

 

Pearl rocked back on her heels for a moment before finally moving to allow Garnet through the front door she held open. She followed the taller woman inside and watched the back of her curly head as they walked, chewing nervously on the inside of her bottom lip.

 

“You walked all the way down here without a coat?” She asked for lack of anything else to fill the silence, causing Garnet to turn her head back just enough to look at the pale woman.

 

“I don't get cold easily— and it’s only sixty degrees.” 

 

Pearl tugged her trench coat tighter around her body, even in the warmth of the building. Coming around to walk beside her guest, they passed an area where two receptionists sat bored at the entrance and flipped through creative magazines. An array of of posters advertising brand new exhibits, as well as those soon to come, adorned every free space on the desks. Pearl smiled at the wonder overtaking Garnet’s eyes the further they went. 

 

The walls lead to high ceilings with massive windows letting natural light in from the front of the building. Art pieces of all sorts decorated both the walls, the floor, and even hung from the ceiling. 

 

Garnet stopped at a particular piece, a sculpture depicting two seemingly genderless figures locked in a passionate embrace that heavily resembled two lovers curled around each other. Carved out of some obsidian colored material and glossy over the surface, it glistened beautifully in the sunlight pouring through the windows. 

 

Garnet couldn't take her eyes off of it, and Pearl couldn't take her eyes off of her.

 

“If you think that's cool, just wait until you see the rest of the exhibit.” Pearl grinned, her stomach fluttering when Garnet turned that awed gaze onto her. 

 

“Thanks for inviting me, Pearl.” 

 

“No problem,” she said, her voice coming off far more breathless than she would have liked. It was not everyday that just a look from a girl knocked the air from her lungs. She was kicking herself for inviting Garnet as a friend instead of asking her on the date she  _ wanted _ to be with her on like she had told Rose. 

 

The woman was harder to read than advanced literature in a foreign language, and Pearl wouldn't be able to tell if Garnet was attracted to her unless she made a neon sign and threw it at her forehead. When Garnet continued to roam about the room, Pearl released the breath that had been stuck in her lungs and followed after her. 

 

Stopped in front of a stunning water color painting with her elegant hands folded behind her back, Garnet said, “My mum’s an artist. She taught me few things, but… nothing like this.”

 

Pearl took the two steps needed to stand at her shoulder and looked up at her taller companion.

 

“Those drawings on the wall in your dorm— you made those?”

 

Garnet’s full lips turned upward peacefully, “Maybe.”

 

“Well, they're really good.”

 

“I dabble in traditional drawing. I’ve had inspiration for a new piece recently, but…” 

 

Pearl’s hands pulled at each other by the base of her stomach subconsciously. “What are you waiting for?”

 

“The right way to ask you to model for me,” Garnet said, her smile sultry enough to send Pearl’s palms into a clammy sweat. 

 

She stammered for a beat, causing an amused quirk of Garnet’s full, expertly arched eyebrows. 

 

“I—um…of course! Whatever you need.” Pearl nodded decisively even though her stomach was in knots at the thought of Garnet paying such excruciating attention to her every detail.

 

Garnet’s sensual smile morphed into a full one, showing off her straight teeth, “Alright then.” 

 

Pearl released a breathy laugh, punctuated by another nod, “Alright.”

 

They perused the quaint art center without much talking, much to Pearl’s distress. Upon spending more time with Garnet, however, she realized that the taller woman was just comfortable in silence. She held a easy grace about her as she moved that would have never spoken to the likely gangly awkwardness of her earlier teenage years. Garnet was all lean muscle and wide hips, a figure that had Pearl’s palms sweating even with the chill breezing in from the periodic opening of the doorway. 

 

She found herself sneaking glances at her companion often— not often enough to be suspicious, she hoped. Well, until Garnet caught her for the first time. 

 

And a second and third time.

 

And eventually, “Pearl.” Garnet said so calmly that Pearl jumped a bit upon realizing she was caught  _ again _ .

 

“Yes?” She squeaked a bit, heat rising to her cheeks as surely as she assumed it would.

 

“There something on my face?” Garnet asked jokingly. Her smile was kind instead of mocking as Pearl had assumed it would have been. Pearl suddenly found her feet very interesting.

 

“No! No— you're just…” Pearl faltered for a moment before breathing out in a rush, “You're just very— attractive and I wanted to ask you here on a date, but I chickened out and now I’m regretting that you think this was platonic when my intentions were something very different—”

 

“Pearl.” Garnet chuckled her name, and the way her lips wrapped around the single syllable in that accent sent a shiver up her spine.

 

“Yes?”

 

“I know your intentions. I could tell you were nervous when you asked me, and the way you blush every time I look at you, _and_ the amount that you stare at me is all pretty telling.” Garnet smiled knowingly at the pale woman beside her, and Pearl wrung her hands together anxiously.

 

Was she really so transparent?

 

Who was she fooling; of course she was.

 

“I’m so sorry if I made you uncomfortable or anything—”

 

“Would you like to go to dinner with me? On a date?” Garnet asked, turning her body so that one arm caged Pearl where it was propped against the wall by her head. 

 

Pearl looked up into Garnet’s eyes, breathing out a shaky breath against her full lips in response to their sudden closeness. 

 

“Really?”

 

“Would I be asking if I wasn't sure?”

 

Pearl’s bottom lip found its way between her teeth, “You ask that like I know you well enough to answer.”

 

“Well, would you like to?” Garnet asked around a roguish smile that sent Pearl’s heart into stutters in her chest. Her hands were sweating.

 

“Yes.” Pearl whispered eventually, afraid to breathe lest it disrupted this moment.

 

Garnet pulled away as quickly as she had gotten close, resuming walking down the hall of artwork with her hands in the pockets of her sweats.

 

Pearl stared after her, mouth slightly agape and breaths exiting raggedly from her nose.

 

“Come on, then. I want to see the ‘Women of Color in Feminism’ exhibit. They had a poster advertising it by the front desk,“ Garnet called casually over her shoulder. 

 

Pearl swallowed hard around a massive grin and walked after her.

 

///

 

The next day, Garnet pushed open the door to the locker room, Opal and Amethyst in the midst of deep discussion behind her, and was met with Pearl’s startled face. Her pale fist had been raised half way to knock on the wooden barrier between the hallway and the women’s volleyball locker room, the other hidden behind her back.

 

Opal and Amethyst bumped into her back once she had stopped in her tracks so suddenly, causing them both to look up with variant looks of surprise and confusion. Amethyst peered around Garnet’s torso while Opal did the same over Garnet’s shoulder. Both of the other women spotted Pearl, then turned to look at each other with knowing looks.

 

“We’ll catch you later, G.” Amethyst grinned conspicuously, stepping around her captain.

 

Opal shot a smirk in Pearl’s direction, pulling her hair up into a near-pristine ponytail as she sauntered off to follow Amethyst. “Try not to drown in each other’s eyes,” she chuckled without turning back.

 

Pearl’s blush bloomed across her face like ink spilling into water, and her indignant gasp coupled with her red face caused Garnet to release a sharp laugh. The taller woman immediately moved to hide her mirth by turning around and closing the locker room door behind herself, but it hardly worked.

 

“Well, that was— embarrassing,” Pearl breathed, finally meeting Garnet’s eyes once more as soon as the other woman turned back around. 

 

A smile still played on Garnet’s full lips until Pearl pulled a plastic bag from behind her back, almost as if she had forgotten why she came, and presented it to her.

 

“I, ah, brought you lunch. I knew you’d be getting out of practice around when I was finished with my Physics class, so I thought maybe—” Pearl stopped as soon as Garnet’s hand moved toward the plastic bag, but instead of taking it from her hands, she wrapped her long fingers around Pearl’s so that they held it together.

 

The  _ zing _ that buzzed through their touch felt like someone dropped the floor from beneath her with the way her stomach flipped, and Pearl immediately pulled away with a frazzled laugh.

 

Garnet’s hand clenched around the handles of the bag so that it wouldn't fall, and her plump lips pursed together. “Sorry,” she murmured.

 

Upon closer inspection, a reddish tint was coloring her brown cheeks and Pearl only blushed even deeper.

 

“No— no, I…” Pearl took a deep breath, trying simultaneously to calm herself down and get her words together.

 

“I just— like when you touch me.” Upon hearing that sentence out loud, she pressed onward frantically, “I mean—! Not like  _ that _ , of course! It just feels nice… when you do… and I'm shutting up now.” Pearl covered her flaming cheeks with her hands, avoiding Garnet’s amusement filled gaze until she heard the rustle of a plastic bag being placed on the floor.

 

She felt Garnet’s hands gently tugging her own away from her crimson face, and suddenly she was met with kind, brown and blue eyes. That same  _ zing _ was back, and it lulled itself into a soft, happy  _ hum _ .

 

“You can keep going. I’m all for flattery,” she joked, and Pearl’s radiant smile cracked across her cheeks as she playfully smacked at Garnet’s arm.

 

“Seriously though,” Garnet began as she brushed her thumbs across Pearl’s cheeks and looked down into wide, blue eyes, “I like touching you, too.” And then, with a teasing smirk, “Not like  _ that _ , of course.”

 

A beat.

 

“Your skin is  _ really  _ soft. What moisturizer do you use?”

 

Pearl scoffed, a residual upturn of her lips from her earlier smile still dancing on her cheeks. Garnet grinned and bent down to pick the bag back up before walking down the hallway and toward the exit. Pearl followed behind her without a second thought, and then scolded herself for walking so close to Garnet that their shoulders brushed with every step. She moved a short distance away, and reminded herself to stay cool— like Garnet.

 

She quickly realized that she would need to set a lower standard for herself than the epitome of ‘cool’ that was her companion. 

 

“Have you eaten?” Garnet asked around a quiet yawn, drawing Pearl’s attention to the bags under her eyes.

 

“Yes, I had a salad and some carrot sticks.” Pearl responded with a tiny smile, proud of her healthy dietary choices.

 

Garnet screwed her face up, drawing a tinkling laugh from between Pearl’s lips.

 

“How are you not still hungry?”

 

“Because I’m not a full time athlete who burns hundreds of calories a day and constantly needs a higher intake.”

 

Garnet looked at her with an amused glint lighting her eyes, and she cracked a smooth grin.

 

“Okay. Fair enough.”

 

“Where are you headed?” Pearl asked with a hopeful smile tugging the corners of her lips toward her ears. Garnet shrugged a bit, clutching the bag with a subconscious excitement that sent a prideful flush to Pearl’s cheeks. 

 

“To my room. I was gonna watch Netflix while I eat the lunch my lovely friend was kind enough to bring me. Probably take a nap.” 

 

_ Friend _

 

The word bounced around Pearl’s mind tauntingly, and she felt her face heat up once more in direct response to being embarrassed that she was disappointed in their title. Garnet  _ was  _ her friend, though, and pretending that she should have said anything more than that platonic name for their relationship  _ thus far  _ would be ridiculous. 

 

Wishful, sure, and ridiculous.

 

“Don't let me get in the way of what will surely be a thrilling night, then.” Pearl teased, flashing the white of her teeth when she smiled up at Garnet’s amused face.

 

“Well, what if I want you to join me in my night of spectacular plans?” 

 

“That depends…” Pearl trailed off, drawing out the suspense of her requirements.

 

“On what?”

 

“Will there be popcorn?” 

 

Garnet chuckled, shaking her head a bit as they rounded a corner and pressed through double doors that Pearl held open for the taller woman.

 

“Yes, Pearl, I’ll make you some popcorn.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the amazing feedback on the last chapter! I'm so glad you've enjoyed this work so far. 
> 
> Much love!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zombie apocalypse tv shows and the process of getting ready for date night.

Garnet kept her promise.

 

The scent of buttered popcorn floated about the room like a spirit of their combined childlike excitement. The two scrunched up on the couch together with the plastic bowl of popcorn balanced on their shared laps. The light of the television screen flickered rapidly across the room and threw color across the shadows of the otherwise dark corners. 

 

An apocalypse show centered around the most trendy destroyer of the world, zombies, projected brightly from the screen. They had foregone Netflix and traded it in for a new episode airing that night.

 

Gore was never typically in either of their tastes, but the writing was exciting enough that they could get past the spattered brains and bloody scenes well enough. After a particularly gruesome zombie kill, their connected yells of disgust intermingled with their laughter and drew each other’s attention. Pearl’s eyes locked onto dark ones beside her with a smile lighting all the way up to the shadowed blue of her eyes.

 

With a nervous little laugh, she turned back to the screen and popped a couple pieces of popcorn between her dry lips.

 

She licked them after she had been chewing for a bit. They tasted salty.

 

The next scene had begun, and Pearl took out her phone for the first time all night. The brightness had nearly blinded her, and she quickly turned it down before opening up her twitter app.

 

Her thumb scrolled the screen for a bit before she giggled to herself, drawing Garnet’s attention once again.

 

“Can't believe you're laughing at that guy getting his head smashed in.” Garnet joked dryly, a smile tugging her lips up.

 

“No, look, the actors are live tweeting the episode.” Pearl handed her phone off to the the woman beside her, and Garnet scrolled down tweets from her favorite character’s actress.

 

Pearl watched her face slowly grow in amusement as she got further and further down the tweets. After a bit, she handed the phone back and took her gaze back to the screen to make sure she hadn’t missed much.

 

“She's pretty funny.” Garnet admitted, gaining Pearl’s nod in agreement.

 

“They do this every week. I almost forgot to check today.”

 

“Oh, damn, sorry for distracting you. I know my presence is  _ super _ overwhelming.”

 

Pearl snorted and shoved Garnet’s shoulder, causing the taller woman to tilt over and fall to the other side of the couch.

 

Pearl gripped the popcorn bowl before it could topple to the floor and looked at Garnet in disbelief. “You are so  _ dramatic _ !” She laughed from somewhere deep in her belly.

 

Garnet’s hand rubbed over her shoulder in what was clearly faux pain, and scrunched her face up, “You’re stronger than you fuckin’ think!”

 

“Yeah, right.”

 

“No, seriously, that kinda hurt.” Garnet chuckled warmly and righted herself on the couch, reaching her hand across Pearl’s legs to grab a handful of popcorn and pop a few into her mouth. 

 

“Watch the show,” Pearl giggled, shaking her head and turning her eyes away from her  _ friend _ to look at the zombies getting their brains blown out across a giant rural field.

 

Before Pearl knew it, they were both well into the night and her phone screen revealed that it was a very late 11:48pm. Her back straightened immediately and Garnet jumped a bit in response to the sudden movement.

 

“What happened?” She asked groggily, and Pearl realized she had been dozing off a bit beside her for quite some time.

 

“It’s late. I need to head back to my dorm. I have an 8am tomorrow.”

 

Garnet nodded and stood up, raising her arms above her head in a long stretch that sent little cracks through her back and shoulders. She walked over to where she had draped her hoodie on one of the egg-shaped chairs across the room and pulled it over her large curls with little difficulty. 

 

Pearl watched her in confusion from her spot, unmoved, on the couch. Garnet was scooping up her keycard and wallet to stick into the large front pocket of her hoodie when she glanced up and looked at Pearl, equally confused.

 

“You ready?” Garnet asked slowly.

 

“You’re… walking me to my dorm?”

 

An amused smile spread across Garnet’s face and she shook her head with a breathy laugh breezing through her nose, “D’you see how dark it is outside? Of course I am. Besides, I don’t mind it. In case I haven’t been obvious enough, I kind of like being around you.”

 

Pearl’s cheeks heated in the way that Garnet was quickly becoming an expert at causing, and she stood up to gather her own things. 

 

The taller woman made her way to the front door and held it for Pearl with an exaggerated gesture for her to go first and a giant, teasing smile on her face that deepened the dimple on her right cheek.

 

Pearl laughed quietly and dropped her head as she began walking down the carpeted floors of the hallway.

 

“ _ Dramatic _ !” She called over her shoulder.

 

“Shh!” Garnet hushed her, “Don’t tell anyone!” 

 

The walk to Pearl’s dorm took about ten minutes because of their leisurely pace, and before Pearl could swipe her card to open the glass front doors of the building, she turned around to look at Garnet with worry in her eyes.

 

“Who’s going to walk  _ you _ to  _ your  _ dorm?”

 

Garnet waved off her worry and shrugged, sticking her hands into the big pocket of her hoodie. Her phone and wallet pressed to the front of it, making it bulge out.

 

“I’ll be fine. Have you  _ seen  _ these guns?” She joked, pulling one hand out of her pocket and holding it up to flex her arm. Her muscles strained the tight material and Pearl felt her lips part a bit before shaking herself out and pushing through the fog in her mind.

 

“I’m serious Garnet!”

 

“So am I! I’ll be okay. Here, I’ll share my location with you so you can literally watch me get home safe.” She pulled her phone out and swiped around for a bit before Pearl’s phone  _ pinged _ with the notification that Garnet was sharing her location and the question of if she would like to do the same.

 

Pearl pressed ‘Yes,’ and looked back up at Garnet with a small smile. “Okay. Text me when you get in, anyway. Please.”

 

“Alright  _ mum _ .”

 

“That’s weird.” Pearl laughed, her face screwed up into a frown.

 

“You’re weird,” Garnet smirked, “Good night, dork.” 

 

The strawberry blonde couldn’t wipe the grin off of her face as she turned on her heel and pressed her key card against the scanner. The lock on the door turned beneath her hand, and she stepped through with one last look at Garnet. 

 

The athlete sent her index and middle fingers to her forehead in a salute before turning to stroll back to her own dorm. Pearl shook her head to herself in disbelief and giggled a bit before composing herself and turning back around to head to the elevators. She needed to get to sleep, and she couldn’t do that if she spent the rest of the night thinking about Garnet.

 

///

 

Rose flitted around Pearl’s tiny bedroom, pawing through her equally tiny closet to help her friend pick out something just as tiny to wear for the night.

 

“Rose, that's not meant to be worn as a shirt!”

 

“Tonight it is.”

 

“We’re going to dinner, not the club!”

 

Rose huffed and sat herself down on Pearl’s bed with the skimpy fabric hanging from her tan fingers. Brown eyes caught blue ones across the room, “Do you even know where she's taking you?”

 

“No…” Pearl admitted.

 

“Then that excuse doesn't work.” Rose said triumphantly.

 

“Yes, it does, because that's tacky worn by itself and that's not the look I want to go for tonight.”

 

“Fine!” Rose relented, “What do you usually wear with it?”

 

Pearl leaned over and grabbed the bralette from her hands to carefully fold and put away, “A shirt.”

 

With rolling eyes, Rose stood back up and continued her search with altered standards and Pearl returned to the other side of the room to finish doing her hair.

 

She picked up the flat iron and gently worked through her hair until it hung around her face, her bangs curled down before flicking inward a bit, and brushed her made-up cheeks. 

 

Her bottom lip fell victim to her teeth as she took in her contoured face and light eyeshadow. Figuring out what was missing, she reached for her eyeliner and painstakingly winged both eyes. Turning differing angles in the mirror, and silently admitting that she looked damn  _ good _ , Pearl finally faced Rose again to check the progress on her outfit.

 

The taller woman was standing triumphantly beside the laid out clothes on her single bed and Pearl raked her blue eyes over them with a smile spreading across her face.

 

She nodded in approval.

 

“Yes, you're welcome. I’m amazing, I know. You don't have to tell me.” Rose gloated jokingly before her sparkling laugh danced across the room.

 

“You and Garnet would be great friends,” Pearl murmured to herself. She shook her head with a little laugh and leaned over to pick up the leather jacket in one hand, “I forgot I had this. I never wear it.”

 

“You're gonna wear it tonight, and you're gonna look like a badass that Garnet won't be able to take her eyes off of.”

 

Pearl snorted and shot Rose a disbelieving look.

 

“Me? A badass? Are you drunk?”

 

“I wish. But, I  _ did  _ say you would  _ look _ like a badass. We all know you're still scared of the dark and like your coffee with five sugars, sweets.”

 

“That joke is on you because I prefer tea to coffee any day.” Pearl shot back with her nose in the air.

 

“You're proving my point,” Rose said. Her smile might have been hurting her cheeks for as hard as she was trying not to laugh.

 

Pearl deflated and scooped up the pale blue crop top so that she could start getting dressed. She had it halfway over her head when her phone  _ dinged _ with a message from the bed. She tugged the form fitting material the rest of the way down and stood in that shirt and her underwear as she tilted her head to read the notification from Garnet on her phone.

 

Garnet [6:34pm]: omw :)

 

Pearl smiled and typed back a quick ‘Okay’ before dropping her phone back down to the sheets. 

 

“What did she say?” Rose asked from her spot on the bed.

 

“How do you know it was her?”

 

“Do you not feel the huge grin on your face right now?”

 

Pearl elected to ignore her roommate and slip the high waisted jeans up her slim hips before buttoning them up. She threw the leather jacket over her shoulders and turned around to look at herself in the full length mirror. 

 

After a moment, Pearl bent down to slip her favorite black platform boots over her feet and smirked to herself because she would finally be able to look Garnet in the eye without tilting her head up.

 

“What are you doing tonight?” Pearl asked over her shoulder as she reached for her bottle of expensive perfume. It was for special occasions only, seeing that it was about forty dollars a bottle, and tonight definitely qualified. 

 

“I’m probably going to see Greg. Hang out in his room when he's done with rehearsal.” Rose said. Her voice dreamily hiked up until it was nothing but a breath through her lips, and Pearl fake gagged.

 

“If I ever sound like that when talking about Garnet I want you to hit me.”

 

“You have to stop running from true love.” Rose said matter-of-factly.

 

“You're too young to be in love, Rose!”

 

“I’m calling bullshit on  _ that _ .”

 

Pearl turned around to level her gaze on Rose’s challenging one, “You just got to college. This isn't even real, adult life yet. You barely know anyone, especially Greg, whom you've known for exactly two months.”

 

Rose laid down in Pearl’s bed to prop her head up with her elbow. Her soft pink curls framed her face like wisps of rosy smoke.

 

“You let me know how you feel about Garnet in  _ one _ month, and then we can talk about love.”

 

Somewhere in the middle of Rose’s sentence, Pearl’s phone  _ dinged _ again with a text from Garnet signalling her arrival downstairs. The shorter woman scooped up her phone and dropped it in her purse along with her wallet and key card before making her way to the door.

 

“Bye, Rose! Have fun with  _ Gregory _ .” Pearl said, a teasing lilt to her voice.

 

“Oh, I  _ will _ .” Came Rose’s suggestive reply, and Pearl groaned for good measure right before she closed the door behind her.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone again for the kind words on the last chapter! Hope you all enjoyed this one :)
> 
> Much love!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garnet risks an injury on the court, and Pearl gets what she wants.

The cool air of the gym raised goosebumps on Pearl’s arms even beneath her Homeworld University sweatshirt. She crossed them over her small chest and drew her knees up to her torso as she sat in one of the hundreds of seats surrounding the gymnasium like a colosseum. She tracked Garnet’s team entering from the far wall, emerging boisterously with some hot 100 song on their tongues like an anthem. There was a different one every time, and Pearl had to wonder who could ever have that much energy and maintain it through an entire game, best three sets of five.  

 

As the team warmed up, more and more people filed into the gym to pack the seats and raise the general temperature of the room. She unfolded herself and sat forward.

 

The crowd was antsy. They knew it would be a good game.

 

One of Homeworld University’s many rival schools, Crystalrock State, was set to play that evening, and the students of HWU were driven to the same boisterousness as the girls warming up on the floor by the music blasting from every speaker. Pearl could feel the vibrations diving up and through her from the soles of her feet, and a familiar excitement coursed through her veins when the starting six girls took their spots on one side of the net.

 

While the down-referee checked the line up on each side, Garnet turned to search for her in the crowd. Pearl’s hand raised in an enthusiastic wave, and Garnet’s face broke into a wide grin before shooting a wink her way and turning back to the court. Several students sitting in front of her turned to look up at her burning face, and she avoided eye contact as best as she could.

 

As the whistle blew to signal the beginning of the game, a hush set over the gym with a thrilling immediacy. Pearl couldn’t take her eyes off of Garnet’s focused posture, tensed and ready to spring into movement as soon as one of the younger girls of her team served the ball with frightening speed over the net.

 

The girls from Crystalrock got the ball up well enough, and tipped it over the net, which Amethyst passed with an ease that looked super-human with how she dove, rolled and sprung back to her feet in an instant. Lapis stepped beneath the air-borne ball and set it directly to Garnet, who took off like a strike of lightning and pounded the ball down their throats with a crack just as loud.

 

The stands erupted into cheers as the referee called the ball down and gave the point to their team. Pearl’s scream of, “ _Nice Garnet!”_ was almost drowned out in the deafening roar of the gymnasium, but as they reset for the next serve, she caught Garnet’s eyes.

 

Another wink. She was showing off.

 

Pearl hid her giddy smile behind her fingers.

 

Most of the first set went the same. When Crystalrock could hit the ball over, Homeworld U’s back row would dig the balls effortlessly, and Lapis would send beautiful sets to either Garnet, Opal or a sophomore, who she learned from the chatter around her was named Alexandrite. When Opal rotated out for Jasper, the other team had a better time getting a ball over the net. While she was stronger and hit harder than Opal, she moved slower and left more holes in her blocks than not.

 

The first set ended 25-20, and the second finished at a breezy 25-16.

 

Pearl listened to the chatter of the gym raise exponentially as the teams switched sides for the third time, and overheard a couple of guys behind her wondering, “Did that set seem too easy to you?”

 

His companion probably nodded when he responded with, “Exactly! It’s like Crystalrock wasn’t even trying.”

 

“Shit, look. Their outside’s injured. That’s why they've been having that new girl start, number eight.”

 

“The one that Opal blocked like six times that last set?” He responded with a snicker.

 

They were quiet for a long moment, and whatever the other guy’s response, he probably nodded it. Then, after a while, “Look who they’re replacing their right side with with.”

 

Pearl followed where their gazes must have been, and her jaw dropped just slightly at the massive woman making her way to the net. She must have been at least six foot seven, and her muscles seemed to permanently flex and bulge against her jersey.

 

“Garnet has to block _her_?” Pearl hadn’t realized that she had spoken aloud until one of the boys behind her released a disbelieving cackle.

 

“ _Damn_. I’d hate to be Garnet right now. She’d better pray for her ankles before this next set.”

 

Pearl turned around with a frown creasing the space between her thin eyebrows. “What do you mean?” Her eyes skated over the tan skinned boy and his paler friend beside him. Both sported some sort of spirit gear in the form of a burgundy hoodie and sweatpants respectively.

 

“The girl’s damn near famous for coming down off her hit clumsy as hell. Both times we played them last year, whoever was blocking her rolled their ankle. Except Garnet was back row both times. Looks like they’re switching it up now. It’s either gonna be her or Opal, I’m calling it.” The low rasp of his voice grated against Pearl’s ears.

 

She turned back around and took a deep inhale through her nose before she could grab him by the collar and shake him for taking bets on whether or not Garnet would get injured in this set. Just thinking about watching her go up for a block and come down on that _damned_ right side’s foot under the net made her skin crawl.

 

Pearl had seen enough injuries in her own life to ever want to witness them in anyone else’s.

 

The whistle blew to signal the beginning of the third set, and Crystalrock State served, but Homeworld University almost immediately got the ball back on their side. The crowd grew more rowdy every time they got a point, and eventually Pearl’s mind was entirely off of the possibility that Garnet could be in danger.

 

Until she was.

 

Exactly like the boy behind her had predicted, Garnet and Opal had gone up to block the giant right side hitter, and when they came down, Garnet landed strangely and toppled backward, breaking her fall with her hands and sliding backward a bit. Pearl couldn’t give less of a damn about where the ball went after that. She was on her feet instantly with the people behind her complaining that they couldn’t see. Garnet jumped to her feet immediately and raised her hands to her teammates in placation, as if to say _Don’t worry, I’m fine._

 

Pearl exhaled a breath she hadn’t known she’d be holding in a gust of air before slowly lowering her body back down to the chair on weak legs. Her heart was pounding behind her ribcage with a force that terrified her.

 

_Breathe in._

 

_Out._

 

_In._

 

On Pearl’s next exhale, she opened her eyes from where they had fluttered closed and saw that the next serve was about to come over from Crystalrock’s side. Looking around, she noticed the pissed off murmuring of her peers and turned back to the scoreboard. Crystalrock got the last point, which meant that the referee hadn’t called that giant right side for being under the net.

 

The score was now 15-7. Despite being ahead, the insult of the call riled the crowd up even further.

 

How had he not seen her foot go beneath the net? He had _definitely_ seen Garnet go down. What did he think happened? That Garnet tripped on the goddamn air?

 

A slow anger built in Pearl’s gut that was only sated when Garnet hit the next ball so hard that it pounded straight down onto the right side’s head as she went up to block and ricocheted far into the stands. The crowd exploded into aggressive cheers that buzzed through Pearl’s arms until the tiny blonde hairs stood on end.

 

Garnet’s beaming smile may as well have illuminated the entire room. The swagger in every step she took on the court emanated control and assurance in her skills.

 

She wasn't going to let a bogus call throw her off.

 

Pearl felt a smirk make its way to her face; Garnet’s confidence was infectious.

 

Homeworld University went on a seven point run that had the opposing team overflowing with agitation. They started making dumb errors, frantically trying to gain points and losing them due to sloppiness.

 

The score was 22-7 when Crystalrock finally called a timeout. Pearl observed Garnet’s team huddled around their coach, and how their arms wrapped around each other's waists in a display of unity. Garnet seemed to be giving some sort of short, inspirational speech because as soon as they broke off with a shouted chant, they strutted back onto the court with their chins held high and grins on their faces.

 

 _“Of course we’ll win_ ,” their demeanors said, “ _Was there ever any way we wouldn't?”_

 

The other team took their places back on the court with set brows and determined glints in their hardened gazes. The referee blew his whistle for the next serve and Amethyst bounced the ball five quick times to the floor before tossing it into the air and taking a powerful approach before jumping up and contacting it at its highest point. Her serve flew quick and low to the net, and two girls in Crystalrock’s back row ran into each other trying to get it.

 

The ball flew off into the stands, the point went to Homeworld U, and the crowd jeered at the other team.

 

A standing assistant retrieved a new ball and tossed it into Amethyst’s waiting hands. She served again, the same way and to the same spot.

 

That time one girl stepped in to dig the ball and over passed it until it came down just barely on the other side of the net. Opal’s lips curled into a sly grin as she stepped a little bit off from the net to dive into the air and pound it back down to the other side with a _smack_ that resounded throughout the entire gym. It hit the floor before anyone could even move to pass it.

 

The crowd’s feet beat against the stands and Pearl couldn't tell the difference between their stomps and her heartbeat.

 

Her throat was raw from cheering.

 

Amethyst stepped back behind the line to serve on game point and repeated her past two serves. The same girl who passed the last time did so again, and this time she got it straight to her setter’s hands. The giant right side approached and swung with a force that sounded like it could have sent scorch marks across the floor—

 

Had Garnet not blocked her.

 

The ball went straight down off of Garnet’s hands and hit the floor right at the poor girl’s feet on the other side of the net. Opal had been late to the block, and instead pulled off of the net to pass so that Garnet could take it alone.

 

The third game finished with a resounding score of 25-7.

 

The crowd’s roars turned deafening and Pearl could barely hear her own yells over everyone's mixing together in a cacophony of sound. Her throat burned and her cheeks hurt from smiling so wide. The palms of her hands were red from clapping, and the pride that bubbled behind her chest that made her ache to run up to Garnet and hug her hit with a force that surprised even herself.

 

The referee signaled the end of the game by forming his arms into an ‘X’ across his chest, and the women went down the net to slap hands. After each person had gone through, Garnet went to each of her team mates individually and completed an entirely unique handshake with them all.

 

Even the women who had ridden the bench the entire game.

 

They all looked at her like she put the stars in the sky, and Pearl was very quickly understanding why.

 

///

 

“Stop moving!”

 

A giggle.

 

“Pearl…”

 

“It tickles, I’m sorry!”

 

“You're making this so much less sexy than I imagined.”

 

Pearl’s laugh tinkled through the living room like wind chimes in a gentle breeze. Her stomach kept tensing and jolting from all of her mirth, and unfortunately made it extremely difficult for Garnet to finish the painting she had started on her stomach.

 

The initial plan had been to have Pearl pose on the couch while Garnet painstakingly observed and transferred every detail onto the canvas propped on an easel that was currently sitting in the corner of the room, unused. Pearl had a different plan, though, largely because she couldn't think of a pose that was both attractive and easy to hold— and, really, who _didn't_ want a masterpiece painted onto their stomach?

 

And so Garnet laid out a paint stained white sheet and told Pearl to take her shirt off. Finally past the stuttering words and blushing cheeks, she had laid out on the sheet in nothing but her plain blue bra and the jeans she had worn to class earlier.

 

Garnet was partially done with whatever part that was taking place along her ribcage because she had finally ventured down to the fleshy part of her stomach, the part that was unfortunately the most ticklish. Pearl couldn't lift her head to see the progress because the movement would shift her stomach even more, and Garnet would probably mess up again.

 

Pearl felt too bad about the first time she did it to forget to not do it again.

 

“So you _were_ trying to seduce me.”

 

Blue eyes tracked the small smile playing on Garnet’s pretty lips.

 

“I guess now we’ll never know if it would've worked,” Garnet sighed in faux forlorn. She worked the small paint brush in excruciating detail somewhere around Pearl’s belly button, her eyes burning with the same laser focus they held in a volleyball game.

 

“You can always try again.”

 

“Are you saying that my impromptu back up plan isn't hot enough?”

 

Pearl snorted and rolled her eyes at Garnet’s fake offended expression. “You've got me shirtless on the floor of your otherwise empty dorm room. That’s me saying that you have all the opportunity in the world to get whatever you want.”

 

“You want me to get what I want?” Garnet’s voice dropped an octave, and when Pearl glanced back to her dual colored eyes there was a certain sultriness smoking behind her gaze.

 

Pearl gulped, her earlier confidence stuttering.

 

She nodded anyway.

 

“Mhm,” Garnet hummed as she cleaned her brush in a cup of water and dried it on a nearby paper towel. She dipped the tip onto a bright crimson paint the color of all those apples that symbolized sensuality, passion, sex and heat in all of Pearl’s high school english classes.

 

The next strokes were chillingly close to her hip bones, driving a slew of goosebumps up her arms.

 

Pearl had gotten herself under the impression that _something_ was coming, was about to happen between them in that moment— hence her nerves— but all Garnet did was continue her work near the dip and arch of her hip bones with her bottom lip between her teeth in concentration.

 

Finally, Garnet spoke again.

 

“I _want_ …”

 

Pearl’s breath caught in her throat.

 

“... you to stop moving.”

 

The air _whooshed_ from her lungs defeatedly, and Garnet finally looked up at her with amusement dancing behind her eyes.

 

There was a tension in the pit of her stomach now that was going to make keeping still _very_ difficult.

 

Pearl had nearly dozed off by the time Garnet had finally completed her work. The taller woman had murmured her name in the lull of her accent and Pearl’s eyes fluttered open from her deep meditation. Garnet beamed proudly and hovered over her decorated stomach with her phone positioned to take a picture of her work.

 

Pearl held her body absolutely still as not to blur the picture, and when it was taken— with different angles of course— Garnet handed the phone off to her.

 

Pearl gasped.

 

An erupting volcano from between her ribs to right above her bellybutton was painted with such painstaking detail that it would have been impossible to believe the canvas was her stomach had she not witnessed it herself.

 

The lava splashed down her ribs and dribbled into rivulets that disappeared into her hip bones. Even the heat coming off of it was seen in the depiction, and Pearl finally tore her eyes off of her work to look at Garnet in awe.

 

“You said you weren't this good! At the art center, you literally said you ‘dabble’ in this kind of thing. _This_ ,” Pearl emphasized by gesturing wildly to her stomach, “is not dabbling!”

 

Garnet chuckled with a little shrug and finally said, “I don't like to brag.”

 

Disbelieving blue eyes widened comically, and if she wouldn't run the risk of smudging the artwork on her body, she would've leaned up to shove Garnet’s shoulder.

 

“I'm serious! What type of arsehole would I look like going up to all the paintings like, ‘Yeah, I could do this myself?’” Garnet shook her head, that smile still dancing on her full lips.

 

“An honest one,” Pearl grumbled, and Garnet leaned down until she was propped on her elbows right beside her. She was close enough that the scent of her heady shampoo was even more intoxicating.

 

“Thanks for doing the huge task of leaving your room to entertain a liar, then.”

 

Her tone was teasing.

 

Pearl refused to turn her head to meet her gaze; once she did, every ounce of control she held over the inferno at the pit of her stomach would boil over.

 

Erupt.

 

“It's the least I can do, considering you won your game yesterday.”

 

Garnet was motionless beside her.

 

“That was easy. Their outside’s the best player on their team this season, and she's out with what looked like a sprained ankle. Their better players all graduated last year.”

 

Pearl remembered the intense feelings of protection that arose within her at the thought of Garnet getting injured. She remembered the heat in her hands and the rage just below her skin when the boy behind her placed a bet that Garnet would be harmed in that third set.

 

That was passion. Not love.

 

She was careful never to conflate the two, but _stars_ did they feel so similar.

 

“You still did a great job out there. The team really looks up to you.” Pearl’s voice had dropped until it was nearly a whisper and she wondered when they both started speaking so low.

 

“They like you a lot,” Garnet said, mostly to Pearl’s pleasant surprise.

 

And then Pearl, boldly, “What about you?”

 

She finally turned her head to look Garnet in the eyes and was met with a gaze that put the lava on her stomach to shame. She was so close.

 

So close that she could see every curl of her long eyelashes brush the tops of her cheeks when she blinked.

 

So close that she could see the Cupid's bow arch of her top lip and the way that it moved with the bottom one to part in response to her question.

 

So close that she could see the absolute pale blue of one eye and the deep, earthy brown of the other.

 

So close that she could see her pupils dilate.

 

“Can I show you?” Garnet’s voice was nothing but a breath of a whisper.

 

Pearl nodded.

 

Garnet leaned over until their lips brushed once, twice hesitantly— as if charting new territory. Finally, she leaned up off of one elbow to drape her hand on the side of Pearl’s neck, her thumb brushing the gentle curve of her jaw, and pressed their lips together fully.

 

Pearl’s bated breath released in a shudder through her nose, and she leaned into Garnet’s mouth with the intensity of a woman starved for touch— and maybe she was.

 

She hadn't known desire like this until she had first seen Garnet. This was always a long time coming.

 

Garnet’s hand caressed the downy wisps of hair behind her ear as their lips danced together. Pearl eventually parted Garnet’s willing mouth with her tongue, and the other woman made a noise at the back of her throat that drove Pearl forward. She broke the kiss and swung her leg over Garnet’s wide hips to straddle her waist in a burst of confidence she hadn't known she possessed.

 

Panting beneath her, Garnet was flushed beneath her brown skin.

 

“We’ll get paint everywhere.” She breathed.

 

“We’ll stay on the sheet. Whatever you don't want to get ruined, take it off.” Pearl’s voice was rough with want and her fingers were already undoing the tie of Garnet’s sweatpants.

 

Seemingly even more turned on by Pearl’s newfound dominance, Garnet’s t-shirt was over her head and across the room in seconds.

 

Their lips collided like lava shot to the sky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading and commenting. I've gotten some amazing fan art in response to this fic, and I can't explain enough how happy it makes me to see you all enjoying this work so much. 
> 
> Much love!!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearl gets a peek into the inner relationships of Homeworld University's women's volleyball team, and gets introduced to a personal dilemma.

“Why aren’t your roommates ever here?” Pearl’s soft voice broke the gentle silence of the living room. Her bony body curled against Garnet’s in the afterglow of their past hour together. There was no room for chill to reach her skin with the way Garnet’s warm body pressed up against every inch of hers, both decorated in smeared paint.

 

“They’re usually busy. Amethyst is always over in Peridot’s room and Opal is always at the library studying.” Garnet’s voice was mellow, and her accented words floated leisurely about the room. 

 

Pearl was absently tracing the sharp angle of Garnet’s paint stained jaw when her eyes went wide.

 

“Wait, Amethyst and Peridot are…?” 

 

Garnet cracked a smile at her shock, “I thought it was pretty obvious.”

 

“Who else on the team is dating?” 

 

“Well…” Garnet began, and Pearl’s brows arched toward her hairline. She couldn’t believe there were so many inner-relationships that she’d been completely oblivious to. 

 

“I  _ think  _ Jasper and Lapis are becoming more than friends. Peridot and Lapis were together for a few months last year before they decided they'd be better off as friends—” Garnet paused to think back to even the earliest years of her college career.

 

“Opal dated this girl on the boxing team for quite some time… Sugilite, I believe her name was. I think that's all.”

 

Pearl’s captivated eyes roved Garnet’s face as she thought back onto all of the interactions between the girls that suddenly made sense now. From the slightly awkward glances between Jasper and Peridot to the recent borderline excessive contact between Peridot and Amethyst at all times. 

 

“What about you?”

 

Pearl met Garnet’s eyes, lidded like a lazy lioness in her post-orgasm bliss. They barely responded to the question, only turning up toward the ceiling.

 

“Nope.”

 

“Nope what?”

 

A small smile tugged at Garnet’s lips as she stretched her long body in a relaxed heap of boneless limbs. “I haven't dated anyone on the team.”

 

Pearl fingered a splotch of dried red and orange paint staining Garnet’s bare stomach and quirked an eyebrow. “What about outside of the team?”

 

“Nope.” She popped the ‘P.’

 

“ _ How _ ?”

 

Blue and brown eyes turned down from the ceiling to look into her own gaze. Garnet’s brows were scrunched a bit in confusion, so Pearl continued.

 

“Have you seen yourself? Have you heard how people talk about you? You're like—” she paused, trying to find her words, “Everyone is in love with you, Garnet! Almost everywhere I go, someone brings you up to talk about how much they adore you. And I’m the only person you've dated? It's impossible.”

 

Garnet allowed a laugh to rumble through her chest, “Doesn't matter how many people want to date me. I've only found one person I returned the feelings for.”

 

“ _ Which would be _ ?”

 

“ _ You _ , genius.”

 

Pearl’s tiny little “oh,” so quiet that to call it a whisper would be generous, seemed to pull Garnet closer until their lips were connected once again. Her plump lips gave against Pearl’s with a softness that reminded the pale woman of the world's softest pillow. 

 

When they finally broke away, Garnet laying partially on top of her, propped up with her elbow right beside Pearl’s blazing ear, they were both flushed. Their gazes trapped each other for a long while, and the silence was filled only by their breathing and the occasional footsteps trekking down the outside hallway.

 

“You're stunning,” Garnet finally breathed. Her hand rose to brush her thumb across the pointed angle of Pearl’s chin. That same thumb moved a bit to rest against her pink bottom lip and drag it downward slightly before leaning back in to kiss her once more. 

 

Red tainted Pearl’s cheeks like the crimson now smudged across her painted stomach as Garnet’s hands began to wander again. Before things could steam back up, though, Pearl reached down to stop her fingers from dipping below her hip bones.

 

“Wait.” Her voice was breathless, a particular tone of great restraint hanging behind the single word.

 

Garnet stopped immediately.

 

“Sorry—”

 

“No! No, you’re fine. I just need to ask you something and if we keep going then I’ll forget it.” Pearl reassured her. “If someone asks what we are to each other… Stars this sounds just like every cliche teen film where the girl asks ‘what are we?’ doesn't it?”

 

Garnet’s laugh was warm. “Yeah it does,” she joked.

 

A smile played on Pearl’s lips as she continued to talk. “If someone asks what we are… what do I say? What would you say— if someone asked you?” The smile began to falter as the possibility of rejection bloomed in the pit of her stomach.

 

“I’d say…” Garnet paused for seemingly dramatic effect, pretending to think heavily about what she would say next. “Damn, this is a tough one…” 

 

Pearl lightly shoved at her bare shoulder and the smile returned to her lips. “I’m serious!” she giggled.

 

Garnet turned herself until she laid fully atop Pearl, her body a comforting weight against every inch of the other woman's. She tucked her arms until they hooked beneath Pearl’s shoulders and ran her fingers soothingly through the downy silk of the strawberry blonde hair still in disarray from their earlier lovemaking. Her lips brushed against the long arch of Pearl’s milky neck, and she suckled at a spot right beneath her ear until a mark bloomed bright and crimson.

 

“I’d say that's my beautiful, brilliant girlfriend.” Garnet finally murmured into her ear, sending a sharp shiver up Pearl’s spine that made the other woman chuckle. “If that's alright with you, of course.”

 

Pearl let out a shaky breath and nodded, “Y-yes that's very alright with me.”

 

Several moments later, and only after mentally talking herself into it, Pearl reached for Garnet’s hand and guided it back to where she had previously stopped it from traveling.

 

Garnet was more than happy to oblige.

 

///

 

Pearl wrote with speed and precision as she studied the text in front of her. The article was ten pages long and focused on the construction of masculinity from birth to adulthood— a reading assignment given by her sociology professor. She took elaborate notes in the margins, and expounded each small point in her notebook. Every note was color coded: questions in pink, main points in yellow, and supporting details in orange.

 

Her headphones sat comfortably in her ears, classical music tinkling through them from her studying playlist on her phone. The beautiful piano building to crescendo came to a sudden lull as a text message came through.

 

_ Opal [3:12pm]: Are u coming by tonight? _

 

Pearl stared at the message for a long moment, chewing on her bottom lip in deliberation. She had an essay to write and several chapters to read, and she really should stay in her dorm to get the rest of her work done. Rose would be out with Greg and she'd have ample space to focus on her tasks.

 

However.

 

Any chance to see Garnet and the rest of the team was nearly too tempting to skip out on. She loved their dynamics and their humor so much more than she loved sitting alone and working. 

 

The cafe moved quietly around her as she tried to come to a decision.

 

On one hand, she should prioritize herself and her dedication to always staying on top of her assignments. One slip up could turn into a nasty downward slope of scrambling for control  _ very  _ quickly.

 

On the other hand, she could always work while she was there. This is what she told herself, anyway, and she justified it by recalling that Opal and Peridot specifically had gotten a ton of work done when she had first come upon their team bonding nights.

 

With a heavy sigh she picked up her phone.

 

_ [3:16pm]: Yes _

 

The excitement rushed down her veins as she pressed ‘Send.”

  
  


When she entered the dorm room, music was at full blast. The entire floor was sectioned off for athletes, and the women’s basketball and soccer teams were preparing to go out for the night. One of the perks of it being their off-season. Loud laughter bubbled from down the hallway and every door was periodically opened and closed as the girls moved in between rooms to get ready for the night.

 

Pearl saw Amethyst first, walking around a tall, bronze skinned woman with a low cut, blonde afro. A sunset colored halter top fit snugly around her generous chest and the dark jeans she wore seemed painted to her slim, yet curvy figure. 

 

The phrase ‘slim thick’ came to mind, some half forgotten song lyric.

 

Amethyst appraised the taller woman for a moment before nodding her head in utter seriousness.

 

“Yeah. You look pretty fucking hot to me.” 

 

The stranger laughed; the sound was delightfully bright. 

 

“Oh, Amethyst, you are such a charmer.” Her voice was accented as well— some intriguing mix of midwestern American and London. Pearl’s eyebrows raised at that.

 

Peridot strolled in from the kitchen with half of a sandwich hanging out of her mouth. Her alien head decorated pajamas seemed a bit too big for her short body, and she wore the bottoms of the pants cuffed so that they wouldn't drag on the floor.

 

“Are you both done being nauseating?” Peridot grumbled half-heartedly. Pearl might have thought she was serious had the taller woman not turned to send a flirtatious wink in her direction.

 

“Are you done being so damn adorable?” She hadn’t missed a beat.

 

Peridot’s pale face flushed to a brilliant pink in response to the compliment even though she kept her face as stoic as possible. If it was possible to grudgingly chew a sandwich, Peridot managed it.

 

Amethyst looked away from Peridot and her eyes finally snagged on Pearl standing silent in the doorway.

 

“Hey, Pirogi’s here! What up, P?”

 

Pearl allowed a shy smile to turn her lips upward as she stepped further into the room, finally. She felt out of place without Garnet by her side.

 

“Oh, nothing. Opal asked if I was coming by, and I figured ‘why not?’”

 

Amethyst threw herself on the couch beside Peridot’s petite form and rested her arm comfortably around the blonde woman. “Opal’s in the bathroom. She'll be out soon.”

 

Pearl nodded, “Is Garnet here?”

 

“Yeah. She's in the bathroom, too.”

 

“There's only… one bathroom though.”

 

Amethyst laughed full and deep from her belly, “Right. Garnet’s in the shower, and Opal had to piss, so they're both in there right now. Opal will probably be out before G is.”

 

Pearl felt an irrational wave of jealousy rise up within her that she immediately squashed before it could go anywhere. Garnet and the rest of her team spent every waking moment together. Of course it wasn't unusual to share a bathroom at the same time. It didn't mean Garnet liked her any less, or that she was involved with Opal as anything more than friends.

 

_ Get a grip _ , Pearl told herself.

 

The taller woman that Amethyst had been talking to earlier moved into the hall to converse with one of the other basketball girls. Occasionally, her laugh fluttered down the hallway like a flurry of butterfly wings. 

 

True to Amethyst’s word, Opal emerged from the steaming bathroom with a face dampened by the heat. “It's a goddamn sauna in there. Stars, I could barely breathe.” She huffed as she landed on the couch, squished in beside Peridot and Amethyst.

 

“She still showers with the heat all the way up?” Amethyst cackled.

 

“Still?” Pearl asked.

 

“Yeah, me and G met in high school. She  _ always _ showered in boiling water; it used to drive one of her mom’s crazy. Her other mom did it too, though. Probably do it ‘cause they're both hot heads,” She snickered.

 

“Garnet, a hot head?” 

 

Amethyst looked at Pearl as if she should have been in on some inside joke. “You never watched her pound a ball down somebody's throat just because someone on the other team was talking shit through the net?”

 

Pearl thought back to that giant rightside hitter who nearly rolled Garnet’s ankle and didn't even get called for it. Garnet had hit the ball straight into her head when she'd gone up to block in the very next play.

 

“I suppose that's fair…she's usually so calm though.”

 

Opal cracked a knowing smile as she relaxed back into the couch. Her long hair twirled absently around one slender finger. “The word you're looking for is  _ stoic _ . Everywhere else anyway. She's super sweet, but that resting bitch face is intimidating as hell. Most people are scared to even talk to her regardless of how much they like her.”

 

“I see her smiling all the time.” As soon as the words left Pearl’s mouth she realized why. Opal beat her to the punch though.

 

“Because she  _ likes _ you.” She teased with a huge grin lighting her face. “Why do you think we give her so much shit for it? It's too cute. We have to.” 

 

Peridot curled into Amethyst’s side contentedly and spoke around the last bite of sandwich in her mouth. “I think Pearl was initially referencing how open she is with all of us. In regard to her usually being relaxed.”

 

“Oh. I mean we’re all practically joined at the hip. The difference between how open she is around all of us and when we go out somewhere is  _ huge _ .” Opal looked at Amethyst, who nodded her agreement.

 

“The first time we met, I thought I couldn’t have shit to offer that woman. She intimidated the fuck outta me, and I ain’t a punk, so I can only imagine how the guys who wanna talk to her at the bar feel. She’s, like, totally whole by herse-”

 

The bathroom door opened along with a rush of steam curling out with its foggy tendrils snaking toward the ceiling. Garnet’s torso was engulfed in a maroon body towel that stopped at her mid thigh. Her leg muscles absently flexed against her skin as she walked, curly hair dripping onto her shoulders, across the tiny space to her bedroom. Her toned arms kept the towel wrapped around her curvy body, and Pearl’s mouth seemed to suddenly be devoid of all moisture.

 

The taller woman stopped upon seeing Pearl standing between the doorway and the living room couch. A grin lit up her face like the sun peaking over the horizon.

 

“Pearl! When’d you get here?”

 

Pearl forced her eyes upward toward the blue and brown ones across the room and a shaky breath passed her lips before she finally said, “A few minutes ago. Opal texted me.”

 

“I’m glad you could come by. I’d have invited you myself, but you said you had all of that work to finish and I didn’t want to distract you.” Garnet said.

 

Pearl waved it off, feeling a familiar heat residing comfortably on her cheeks, “Oh, I’m not missing anything. Don’t worry.”

 

“Okay. I’m gonna get dressed, then. I’ll be right out.”

  
Garnet made her leave, and Pearl released a breath she hadn’t known that she was holding. Amethyst and Opal, especially, had a long laugh at her expense. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for all of the support this work is getting. I say it every chapter, but you all have no idea how much your kind words mean. 
> 
> Much love!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pearl's inner turmoil broadens and Garnet just wants to treat her right.

“You know, you look great in my clothes.” Garnet murmured from her position in her bed, swathed in two blankets and admiring Pearl with half of her face buried in the pillow. It was 7:30am, and Pearl had class in half an hour. Why she made a spur of the moment decision to spend the night in Garnet’s room with nothing of her own packed, she had no clue.

 

She tried not to think about how irresponsible she was being.

 

Garnet’s single exposed eye raked up her slender body, engulfed by one of Garnet’s too big t-shirts with her high school name and sports number on the front. Her last name was printed in bold across the back where Pearl’s shoulder blades couldn't even be made out through the baggy fabric. She tugged up the high waisted jeans she wore yesterday night and tucked the shirt in to at least make the outfit stylish.

 

One blue eye watched her slip her jeans up past her thighs, then her hips, with a look that was bringing heat to Pearl’s neck. When she bent down to slip on her discarded socks and shoes, she heard Garnet shift. Once Pearl looked back up, Garnet was sitting on the edge of the bed— still in nothing but the sports bra and boy short underwear she went to bed in the night before— and holding her hand out for Pearl to take.

 

A pale hand slipped into Garnet’s waiting one and then she was on her lap, lips precariously close to the full ones in front of her. Pearl shifted until her arms were wound around Garnet’s elegant neck and she pressed her lips to the spot right between her full eyebrows.

 

“Sorry about your shirt.” Garnet said. Her voice was quiet in the otherwise silence of the dorm room. Amethyst must have still been asleep in the room adjacent.

 

Pearl turned to look at the fallen button-down, now buttonless, because they'd both gotten impatient the night before and ripped it off of her torso together. “Don't be. It was worth it.” She flashed a smile that Garnet soon matched.

 

“Can I buy you a new one?”

 

“Please don't. I couldn't ask you to do that—”

 

“You're not asking. I’m offering.”

 

“And I’m declining your offer,” Pearl countered with a gentle peck to Garnet’s lips.

 

The taller woman breathed a little laugh through her nose and buried her face into Pearl’s slender neck. They sat there for a long moment, merely holding each other and appreciating the stillness of the morning around them before Pearl reluctantly pulled away.

 

“I have to go; I can't be late.”

 

Garnet kissed her cheek and released her, “Alright. Are you sure you don't want me to walk you?”

 

“I’ll be fine, Garnet.” Pearl laughed lightly, standing up and moving toward the door.

 

“Okay, okay. Have a good class. See you later?”

 

“Of course.” Pearl smiled widely before slipping out of Garnet’s room.

 

The walk back to her own dorm was mostly filled with her attempting to hide the grin threatening to overtake her face at any moment. No one had ever made her feel so _light,_ so _happy_. The feeling was as foreign as it was welcome, and not much could ruin that feeling.

 

Aside from herself, that was.

 

Her tendency to self destruct hovered at the back of her mind like a dense fog. All of the ways Garnet could end up hating her by just the end of the month rushed to the surface, and just as quickly there wasn’t even a hint of a smile on her lips. Her brows scrunched a bit and she picked up her pace as if that would help her outrun her pessimistic thoughts.

 

She took a deep breath.

 

As long as she didn't do anything stupid, they would be fine. It couldn't be too hard, right?

 

Just— don't hurt Garnet.

 

It was a simple goal, one so _goddamn_ easy that she was almost ashamed for having to make it in the first place, but she knew herself. She was liable to fall short, and that thought would not leave her alone.

 

By the time she reached her dorm and swiped her key card to open the glass front doors, speckled with drops of rain from last night’s light shower, she had a headache throbbing behind her forehead. She made her way to the elevator and wiped her rain-damp hand on the leg of her jeans.

 

The trip up to her room was silent— she was playing some song she heard blasting before the team’s last game in her mind to avoid thinking any further. If she let herself ruminate on her possible shortcomings, she would surely mess up. If she _didn’t_ , though, she would probably slip up then also.

 

Pearl had just entered her room when she stopped short in the living room and dropped her face into her clammy hands.

 

She was fucked either way.

 

With a short shake of her body, as if to jolt the doubts out of herself, she rushed into her shared bedroom to grab all of her things for the day.

 

\\\\\

 

Rose was sucking an iced chai tea latte through a bright green straw from a plastic cup when Pearl slapped her hands down on the wooden table between them.

 

Rose’s brown eyes widened in surprise, and her brows scrunched inward as she shot a wary gaze at her best friend and roommate. She released the straw from between her full, pink painted lips and set the cup down. The condensation made a ring of water where she placed it.

 

“What's wrong, Pearl?” Her voice was expectant in the sense that she had been waiting for the lighter woman to finally let out what was on her chest. She had been anxiously tapping her pen against the table and grinding her teeth for the past twenty minutes as they worked on their essays together.

 

Pearl was the only one really working. Rose had opened up her laptop to a blank document and had simply stared off into space while her friend powered through the first three pages of her work.

 

“I need your help.” Pearl's voice was strained with worry that Rose was accustomed to witnessing by now. The woman stressed out like no other over the smallest of things; it was fascinating, really.

 

“Okay. With what?”

 

“I think I’m going to mess up with Garnet, and I don't know why or _how_ , but I’m so scared of doing it that I haven't even texted her back in three days.” Pearl dropped her head onto the table with a defeated look clouding her face, immediately jumping back up upon realizing that the public cafe table was the last place she should be laying her head.

 

“Well, _that's_ how you're gonna ruin things. You can't spend so much time worrying that you'll push her away that you actually do push her away. Get it?”

 

Pearl nodded slowly, a frown turning her lips downward as she realized that her own logic was very wrong. What was she thinking, avoiding Garnet? She must be so upset with her— Stars she was making everything _worse_ —

 

“Pearl, breathe. Just send her a text asking how her day’s going. It's _fine_.”

 

Right.

 

She shot Garnet a quick message, a simple “Hey, how are you?” that surely would suffice.

 

Rose leaned back in her chair with the straw back between her lips, the tan liquid running up the straw at a steady pace and turning it a dark green color. The door to the cafe jingled and in stepped Greg, flowing hair, ripped jeans and all. His black t-shirt sported a yellow star on the front, the acrylic uneven as if he'd painted it himself.

 

Pearl shot a withering look at Rose, one that asked: _Did you really invite him_?

 

Rose shot her a smug grin that made Pearl huff and return to her work with headphones in her ears. She looked up every few moments to see them fawning over each other— the lingering touches and mushy gazing into each other’s eyes. It was nauseating. That's what Peridot would call it.

 

She missed Garnet.

 

After an hour had passed of pointedly ignoring the couple in front of her and speeding through the last of her essay, she finally got a text back.

 

_Garnet [4:33pm]: hey, i’m good. miss you, though._

 

_Garnet [4:34pm]: are you okay?_

 

Pearl felt her chest deflate and a sense of guilt crawl up her back like a suffocating beast. Garnet had been worried about her. All because she couldn't pull herself together enough to respond to her texts for three days in a row.

 

How pathetic.

 

_[4:36pm]: I’m fine! I've just been busy with assignments. Are you free tonight?_

 

_Garnet [4:38pm]: for you? of course. wanna come over?_

 

_[4:39pm]: Yeah, I’ll be by at about 6?_

 

_Garnet [4:40pm]: okay :) see you soon_

 

Pearl released a breath she hadn't known she was holding and placed her phone down in front of her silently. Rose met her eyes across the table and raised one thick eyebrow in question. Classical music continued to twinkle through her headphones, not doing all that much to ease the anxiety in her stomach.

 

She sent a brief nod toward her best friend, signaling that things were resolved. Rose smiled, the pink gloss on her lips catching the light just so. Pearl looked back at her laptop and finished essay with her fingers drumming restlessly on her thigh.

 

_Stop being such a baby._

 

///

 

Finally seeing Garnet somehow eased the worry that had been dancing in her gut all afternoon. It was as if the three days she’d spent avoiding her had done nothing but exacerbate the problem in her own mind. When she knocked on Garnet’s door and was greeted by her beaming smile, every ounce of doubt stored in the back of Pearl’s mind vanished.

 

She greeted Pearl in a loose fitted Homeworld University Volleyball t-shirt and running shorts that left little to the imagination. The wide curves of her hips and thighs left Pearl with stammered words and a dry mouth.

 

All of this was much to Garnet’s amusement.

 

They both settled down in Garnet’s bed, wrapped up in a cloud-like comforter while the little flat screen above her dresser played some movie on Netflix that neither of them were really watching.

 

Pearl slipped her hand into Garnet’s at some point, and shortly after, she ended up laying atop her like she was a body pillow, curled into her chest with her eyes closed and a smile playing on her lips.

 

She had missed her so much.

 

The natural warmth of Garnet’s body radiated a bit too much heat for Pearl alongside the blanket, and so they maneuvered themselves until they found a good balance between the both of them.

 

Pearl leaned up to press her lips against Garnet’s neck. She smelled like the mango scent of her shampoo and maybe shea butter? Pearl recalled seeing a bar of shea butter soap in her bathroom the last time she was over. It must have been hers.

 

The noise of contentment in the back of Garnet’s throat at the action spurred Pearl onward. Her lips danced down to the sharp arch of her collarbones and then back up to her defined jaw. Melting Garnet beneath her lips was quickly becoming one of her favorite pastimes. She dragged her damp lips up to brush the corner of Garnet’s, full and waiting for her to just—

 

“ _Woah_! Hang a sock or somethin’!”

 

Amethyst’s voice washed over them both like a splash of ice water, sending Pearl jolting ramrod straight and Garnet into a deep flush that turned the brown of her cheeks a deep maroon.

 

“Amethyst! Fuck sake, I thought you were at Perri’s?” Garnet said.

 

Amethyst sauntered into the room as if she hadn't interrupted a thing, going straight to her dresser and rummaging through the drawers for who knew what.

 

“Yeah, yeah I’m going! I just had to grab a couple things, y’know, in case I don't come back tonight.” She shot them both a wink from over her shoulder before continuing to scour through the mess of her drawers for clothes.

 

“You guys can keep going. Pretend I ain't even here.”

 

Pearl felt like the warmth radiating from her cheeks could actually give off heat waves with how embarrassed she felt. She resigned herself to curling into Garnet’s side with the giant comforter pulled over her head until they were alone again. Garnet’s hand still gripping hers beneath all of the blankets mostly kept her from losing her mind.

 

“Sorry ‘bout that.” Garnet said eventually. She turned her head to press her lips against the top of Pearl’s head poking out from the blankets.

 

“It's okay. Just waiting for my face to resemble less of any number of red things I could name right now.”

 

Garnet’s laugh rumbled through her chest, and Pearl finally peeked up at the grinning woman.

 

“You're so easily flustered, you know that?”

 

“Who, me? No. I'm the epitome of cool and collected. Oh wait, that's you.”

 

Garnet’s long fingers brushed through the downy tufts of her mussed hair. “I dunno. Amethyst had me a bit shaken just then.”

 

“You're not the one who dove under the covers like a toddler.”

 

“To be fair, with you on top of me there really was nowhere for me to go.” The amusement in her voice tugged the corners of Pearl’s lips into a smile.

 

“That _does_ make me feel a little better.” Pearl grinned and leaned back over Garnet to place a kiss on her forehead. Then her nose. Then both of her cheeks. Then her chin.

 

And finally her lips.

 

“That was cute.” Garnet breathed. Once again she couldn't tell when they had started whispering. Maybe moments like that are supposed to be continued in the quiet. Maybe too much noise would break the spell.

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Yeah.” Garnet rolled them over as easily as she could on the small bed, but eventually got her girlfriend beneath her. Full lips grazed Pearl’s neck with a gentleness and precision that sent shivers down her spine. Pearl’s thin hands grasped onto the sheets around them and her eyes closed as she tried to hold back the moan building in her throat.

 

She'd have another hickey there tomorrow and she couldn't even find it in herself to care. There would be so many more, if their first time was any indicator.

 

On her stomach. Between her thighs. On her breasts.

 

The thought of where Garnet’s lips would be sometime soon pushed the moan from right between her clenched teeth. It was a quiet little noise. Long and keening.

 

Garnet responded by snaking her hot hands beneath the soft material of Pearl’s sweater and pulling the cloth up and over her head. Her dual colored eyes just— admired her.

 

For a long moment they just traced every freckle and blemish and the odd scar right along with her warm fingers. Her hands trailed her skin like it was sacred, like she was fragile enough to shatter.

 

And maybe she was.

 

How could she have been afraid of this? She could feel the love in Garnet's touch even without her ever saying it aloud.

 

Maybe it didn't even matter if she _did_ fuck up somewhere down the line. Something told her Garnet wasn’t going anywhere.

 

Maybe even if she should.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading and talking to me about this story even outside of the comments and on tumblr, I can't explain how much the kind words and fan art etc etc mean to me!! 
> 
> As always, come talk to me over on tumblr dot com (bakedgarnet.tumblr.com) 
> 
> Much love!!


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Garnet is tired of chasing after Pearl, and the team witnesses the fallout.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rated A for Angst :)

“ _ Damn it _ , Amethyst!”

 

“ _ What? _ I couldn't leave him out there!”

 

“Where are you gonna put it? It's gonna piss everywhere!”

 

“ _ He _ has a name, you know.”

 

“The fuck did you name it for? You can't keep it here!”

 

Garnet and Pearl could hear the argument down the hallway. Coming back from their snack run with plastic bags of healthy-ish food items, they were on their way to Garnet’s room to indulge. Because of Garnet’s schedule and Pearl’s love of planning things, this minor date night had been in the works for nearly a week. Garnet was basking in how ecstatic she was to finally get some time alone with her girlfriend when they heard the commotion coming from the room Jasper shared with two girls on the basketball team.

 

It had become custom to keep the doors unlocked, so when Garnet turned the handle to peek her head in, she wasn't surprised that it gave under her hand. Pearl hung back for a moment,  _ she _ wasn’t sure about barging in people’s rooms, before reluctantly following her inside.

 

Amethyst stood with her back to the door while Jasper practically towered over her. Her sandy brown hair was thrown up into a messy bun and she paced back and forth in front of her shorter teammate in loose gray sweats and a red muscle tee. The near-striped patches where vitiligo had affected her skin mapped from her hands to her shoulders. Pearl didn't think she ever saw her in any other outfit unless she was on the court and in uniform.

 

“What are you two yellin’ about?” Garnet asked, a frown tugging at her brows. Jasper stopped her pacing and looked at Garnet with relief painted on her features.

 

“Finally, someone with some fucking sense. Will you please tell her to get that thing out of here?”

 

Garnet turned her eyes to Amethyst, whose back was still turned away from the two new additions to the room.

 

“Get what out of here?”

 

“Well, show her, Ame! Since you wanna keep it so damn bad.” Jasper’s voice was smug.

 

Amethyst turned around with her shoulders hunched and eyes downcast, and snuggled into her arms was—

 

A kitten.

 

Well, a cat? A small cat that was possibly much too old to be considered a kitten. It was hard to tell from a distance.

 

The first thing out of Garnet’s stunned mouth was, “Why’s it pink?” 

 

“ _ Seriously? _ That's the question you wanna ask first? Get it outta here!” The last demand was directed toward Amethyst, who still wasn't budging.

 

“Whoever had him last probably dyed his fur ‘cause they thought it was  _ trendy  _ or some shit, but he was lost and hungry, so I picked him up. And we gotta find a way to wash the pink out ‘cause I read that when he licks himself the chemicals in the dye could make him real sick.”

 

“You can bathe him in the sink. Dish soap is usually good for this sort of thing.” Pearl said.

 

Three pairs of eyes turned to her in mixtures of surprise and confusion.

 

“My little sister dyed our cat blue when we were little. That's what Google said to do, and it worked, but if there's any additional problems you should definitely get him checked out.”

 

“Thanks, P.”

 

Jasper made a show of taking a deep, calming breath. “You know what? You three go do that. In your own room. With your own dish soap.”

 

“You alright, Jas?” Garnet asked.

 

“ _ Yeah _ , I just—!” Then, much calmer, “Yes. But Sardonyx is allergic to cats and the longer he's in here the longer his goddamn fur is getting everywhere.”

 

“Aw, you care about her!” Amethyst teased, dancing out of the way with the sleeping cat in her arms when Jasper tried to land a punch on her shoulder.

 

“Fuck off, brat. Now get outta here!” Jasper marched around them all to re-open the door and gesture for them to exit out of it.

 

The trio, and the little pink cat, piled into the hallway followed by the resounding shut of Jasper’s door. They looked at each other for a long moment before Amethyst allowed a mischievous smile to curl her lips upward.

 

“ _ So _ … Garnet, you wouldn't mind if—”

 

“You are  _ not _ bringing him in our room tonight.”

 

“But  _ Garnet _ !”

 

“No, Amethyst.”

 

“I’ll be real quiet! Me and Lion here won’t interrupt you two once.”

 

“Lion?”

 

“I can take him.” Pearl said abruptly.

 

Amethyst whirled to look at her with wide, hopeful eyes. “Shit, really? Oh, man. P, you're a life saver!” She beamed before turning a sour look on her roommate. “Unlike  _ someone _ .”

 

“Right, well she’ll have to take him later because we’re about to go gorge ourselves on gluten free sea salt kettle chips.” Garnet said, looking at Pearl briefly.

 

“Actually, I can take him right now. We should get that dye washed out as soon as possible, anyway. Rain check, Garnet?” Pearl asked, turning those large blue eyes up at her girlfriend and leaning up to place a kiss on her cheek. 

 

Before waiting for her to respond, she was walking the opposite way down the hall, “Let’s go, Amethyst.”

 

Amethyst followed her with the sleeping kitten in her arms, but not before turning to look at Garnet with a shit eating grin and a long, obnoxious raspberry. 

 

Garnet was left standing with two plastic bags full of snacks, a slightly slack jaw and a wounded feeling in her gut. After watching them disappear around the corner to the elevators, she huffed through her nose, jutted out her chin and turned on her heel to march back to her room.

 

If Pearl wanted to ditch their date night, fine. She could eat those snacks by herself.

 

But, knowing herself, she would still save Pearl plenty in case she decided to come back.

 

Garnet sighed. 

 

_ Whatever. _

 

(She didn't come back.)

 

///

 

That was just the second time Pearl had ditched or avoided Garnet during their relationship. In isolated incidents, Garnet could convince herself that it wasn’t so bad. She was being dramatic getting upset over something so infantile. 

 

Until the incidents became less isolated and more common.

 

_ “Whatcha laughing at, runt?” Jasper asked, dropping down onto the locker room’s couch with a heavy  _ plop _. Her muscular arm swung onto the back of the couch behind Amethyst’s shoulders. _

 

_ “I really wish you wouldn't call her that,” Opal piped up from the other side of the wall where their locker cubbies were lined up.  _

 

_ “It's an inside joke, blondie. Ame doesn't mind, right?” _

 

_ “Yeah, it’s cool Opal.” And then, to Jasper, “I’m laughin’ at Pearl.” She snickered, “I made her make a Snapchat and this chick is  _ hilariously _ amused by the filters.” _

 

_ Garnet’s ears perked up from across the room on the opposite couch. She stopped typing on her laptop propped up on her folded legs and lifted her dual colored gaze to look between Amethyst and her own phone. Gripping the device in her hand, she unlocked it and swiped to her messaging app to confirm that, no, Pearl  _ hadn’t _ responded to any of the messages she'd sent over the last five days. _

 

_ It wasn't as if she had blown her girlfriend’s phone up.  _

 

_ The first unanswered one read a simple:  _ good morning :)

 

_ The second, from the next day:  _ wanna grab lunch after class?

 

_ The third, from two days later:  _ are you alright? miss you

 

_ And finally, from this morning:  _ did i do something wrong?

 

_ The fact that Pearl had been  _ fine _ and Snapchatting her teammates, all the while not texting her own girlfriend back, both stung and relieved Garnet at the same time. It hurt because being ignored was painful, to put it simply. It was relieving because at least she was okay.  _

 

_ This was how Garnet reasoned with herself. So far, she could pretty much predict what would happen next. Pearl would text her out of the blue either with an excuse about being busy, or none at all. Garnet would forgive her because it was  _ Pearl _ , Pearl who was so impossible to stay angry with, and things would be back to normal for a while before she did it again.  _

_   
_ _ The cycle would continue. This time was different, though. This time there was evidence that Pearl was, in fact,  _ not  _ busy. She was perfectly capable of hanging out with Amethyst and making a Snapchat that would then become a prime tool of communication between the two, but not of texting her back. _

 

_ The anger in Garnet’s stomach morphed very quickly into sadness— pain. She felt neglected. Ignored. Rejected. _

 

_ It was a hollow feeling. _

 

_ “Yo, G-man? You doing okay? You’ve been frowning at the floor for a while now.” Amethyst’s voice broke through her thoughts easily enough. She felt how tight her face had gotten, all drawn into a frown the way it was, and worked to relax her features. _

 

_ “Pearl still hasn’t texted you back, has she?” Opal said quietly from where she had walked from behind the wall of lockers and into the lounge area. The look in her pale blue eyes was a pitying one, but also understanding. Opal had been Garnet’s confidant during this ongoing rift with Pearl, but the others had no idea. Until now, anyway. _

 

_ Clearing her throat, Garnet uttered a quiet, “No.” _

 

_ Amethyst’s wide eyes turned from Opal to Garnet before understanding dawned over her features. She looked down at the phone in her small hand like it would bite her. “Oh, shit.” _

 

_ “Fuck that! Ame, give it here.” Jasper’s loud voice broke the silence that had built, and she plucked the phone from her teammate’s limp fingers. She heaved herself off of the couch and sauntered over to where Garnet was sat with her laptop, plopping down next to her instead. She held the front camera up in front of both of their faces and instructed Garnet to smile. The smile she gave was half hearted— no teeth, and it didn’t come close to reaching her eyes.  _

 

_ Jasper looked at her in frustration, “Will you stop looking like you’re being held against your will and  _ smile _?”  _

 

_ Her lips curled upward into a radiant grin that would never have indicated the pained look on her face only moments ago. She held it long enough for Jasper to squeeze her face in next to hers and beam into the camera before putting the flower crown filter over both of their faces and snapping the picture. As soon as it was taken, Garnet’s smile dropped and her eyes looked just as sad as before. _

 

_ Jasper released a low whistle, “We look hot. Alright, and now…” She trailed off as she typed something into the text box that Garnet couldn’t make out before she sent it off to Pearl. Before Garnet could open her mouth to ask just what the hell she said, her own phone  _ pinged  _ with a message. _

 

_ From Pearl. _

 

_ Garnet turned amazed eyes up at her teammate, “What did you say to her?” _

 

_ “Don’t worry about it. You’re welcome.” She smirked and patted the top of Garnet’s curly head before getting to her feet and stretching her entire body out with a series of groans and cracks. _

 

_ “Threatening people is  _ exhausting _.” _

 

It was driving Garnet absolutely insane a month into their relationship. It didn’t help that Pearl was so hard to run into on campus. The school’s population was massive enough without trying to find one singular person on it. She had run into Rose, though, once. Their conversation had gone somewhere along the lines of:

 

_ “Rose! Hey, Do you know where Pearl is?” _

 

_ “Oh! Garnet! How are you doing? Wow, you’re looking radiant as always.” A beaming grin. _

 

_ “Um, thank you. Pearl?” _

 

_ “Right! I can’t say I’ve seen her since this morning, but I think she mentioned going somewhere to study?” _

 

_ “Can you ask her to text me, please? Maybe she’s not getting my messages.” Garnet knew that wasn’t true. _

 

_ “Yeah, absolutely! Have a great day, Garnet!” _

 

_ “Thanks… you too.” _

 

By the end of the next month Garnet had seen Pearl roughly four times in four weeks. One hardly counted because it had only been in passing, and she couldn’t stop because she had class across campus in ten minutes. She’d had enough. Being sent to voicemail three times in one day had pretty much done her in.

 

Garnet stormed into the room of their next team bonding gathering on a warpath. She generally saved this anger, this  _ heat, _ for the court, but she was  _ furious _ . Someone there was going to tell her just what the hell was going on, considering that they all had such a cozy relationship with  _ her _ girlfriend. Hell, even  _ Sardonyx _ had been out for coffee with Pearl more times than Garnet had even  _ seen _ her this week.

 

She wasn’t jealous of them, no, she was pissed off that everyone she had daily contact with had been more important and more worthy of her own girlfriend’s time than she was.

 

And _of_ _course_ Pearl was sitting on the couch between Sardonyx and Opal when Garnet threw the door open.

 

“Yo, G-squad’s here—!”

 

“ _ Pearl _ .” Garnet growled, dragging the lightheartedness of the room down several notches. Her teammates looked at each other as if they each knew exactly what was about to happen next. 

 

“Garnet, hey!” Pearl’s voice trembled with something like the fear shooting through her wide eyed gaze at the look of rage washed across Garnet’s features. 

 

Garnet wasn’t letting her big eyes and soft voice talk her down this time. “Outside. _ Now.” _

 

A chorus of “ooh’s” made its way around the room as the other women anticipated an argument. Several of them had known this confrontation was a long time coming. The others, mostly the younger players, were more confused than anyone.

 

The couple made it out into the empty hallway and stood with nearly ten feet of space between them. Garnet needed the distance. If she got any closer, she was liable to let Pearl do that thing where she starts getting all teary-eyed and upset, and then Garnet ends up being the one to apologize to  _ her _ somehow instead of receiving an apology herself. Nope, not this time. Not again.

 

Garnet paced back and forth the short way between the narrow walls of the hallway. The look in her eyes was hardened, cold. Pearl stood with her fingers steepled in front of her stomach and her brows drawn together in worry. They stood in enough silence that both of them could hear the team on the other side of the door practically piling on top of each other to press their ears to the wood.

 

Finally, Garnet stopped pacing and looked down at Pearl from her self-made breadth of space. Her hands were trembling with how upset she was, so she shoved them into the pockets of her baggy sweatpants and clenched them both into fists that made the sides bulge out. Pearl watched her jaw work from side to side as she blinked rapidly—

 

She was shocked to see that Garnet was fighting  _ tears _ .

 

“Pearl, I’m tired. I’m so  _ tired _ , and I don’t know what I did, but can you just tell me?  _ Please _ ?” Her voice wavered and cracked on the last word, and tugged something deep in Pearl’s gut that made her own eyes tear up.

 

“You,” she cleared her throat, “you didn’t do anything, Garnet.”

 

“Then  _ why have you been treating me like this _ ?” Her voice raised steadily in volume and passion, angry tears spilling down her cheeks and dripping onto her maroon tank top. Dark burgundy spots bloomed on her chest where they hit. 

 

To ask what it was she had been doing would be the wrong thing to do, Pearl knew. She could figure it out, couldn’t she? The only thing that could have possibly upset Garnet this much was her inability to make contact with her over the past couple of months. She remembered Rose’s advice from all that time ago, a half-forgotten piece of wisdom that had long since gone unused—stupidly, if Pearl had any say in the reflection on her own actions.

 

_ You can't spend so much time worrying that you'll push her away that you actually do push her away. Get it? _

 

Apparently, she didn’t. 

 

“I— I just get really anxious when you text me. I always think I’m going to say the wrong thing, or do something you don’t like when we’re together, so… I just avoid… you… altogether.” As she spoke, the sheer  _ ridiculousness _ of her words seemed to reverberate in her own head.  

 

“See?! I get so scared of messing up that I just make everything  _ worse _ … Stars, I don’t even deserve you—” Great, now she was crying.

 

“ _ Stop _ that, Pearl! Do not do this again!” Garnet was furious all over again, a tint of red painted across the brown of her cheeks and forehead. She hastily sent the heel of one hand up to swipe at tears streaming from one eye and immediately sent it back to its position of a fist inside of her pocket when she was done. “Do not guilt me into forgiving you for this. How hard is it to apologize and acknowledge that you’ve really  _ hurt _ me without making it about yourself?”

 

“I’m sorry, Garnet. Can you please stop yelling?” Pearl sniffed, rubbing the back of her hand across her own eyes. 

 

“ _ Can I stop—?! _ ” Garnet couldn’t even get the rest of the words out. She stared at Pearl incredulously, slack-jawed, for a long moment before closing her mouth with an audible  _ click.  _ She swallowed heavily. “You know what, don’t bother worrying about any of that anymore. Just delete my number altogether. We’re through.” Her voice had gone hollow. Cold. She turned on her heel with her fisted hands still buried deep into her pockets, shaking against her thighs, and trudged around the corner and to the elevators. 

 

Something in Pearl told her to do something, to go after her, but her feet wouldn’t move. She stood in shock, eyes leaking a steady stream of tears as she watched Garnet retreat. The hallway was silent for a long moment after the  _ ding  _ of the elevators had come and gone until a loud  _ thump _ from the other side of the door made Pearl jump. 

 

Voices filtered in from the other side of the wood. 

 

“ _ Fuck! _ ”

 

“Would you shut up?”

 

“My bad. Move your foot.”

 

“ _ Shh _ !”

 

Pearl robotically turned away from the door and looked toward the doorway for the stairwell. She pushed through it and took her time slumping down the stairs and out into the chilly evening air. Garnet must have been long gone. There was no telling where she’d gone off to, considering that her room was only down the hall from where they had been just moments ago. 

  
She hoped she was okay. Maybe she would be, without her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was actually more rough to write than I anticipated in terms of the emotions flying in this chapter. I wanted to bring to light some of the canon ways Pearl deals with being in the wrong/called out and how hurtful that can be to the one initially affected by her actions. I'm very aware of the controversy surrounding criticisms of how Pearl treated Garnet in the Sardonyx arc, but I wanted to illustrate those actions in a different light here than on the show.
> 
> Feel free to leave a comment either here or send me an ask over on tumblr. I love talking with you all.
> 
> Much love!


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the rest of Pearl's friends disappear and Rose tells it like it is.

There was a noticeable shift in the atmosphere around the campus since that night two weeks ago. Word had gotten around that she and Garnet had broken up, they had been pretty well known around campus considering Garnet’s popularity, and Pearl’s interactions seemed much— different.

 

It's as if people were afraid to befriend her now. Before, no one had an issue meandering up to her and starting friendly conversation. She was “Garnet’s girlfriend, Pearl” and that drew even more people to her than usual. She would catch smiles across the walkway and never be without a study group in her classes.

 

Suddenly, she was feeling very much alone.

 

She knew it wasn't Garnet’s doing. She was the last person that would ever sabotage someone’s friend groups just because she wasn't on good terms with them. The reason was obvious enough: no one wanted to risk getting on Garnet’s bad side by being buddy-buddy with her ex.

 

It was a dumb reason, granted. Garnet didn't care about any of that. Her down-to-earth character had been what had drawn Pearl to her in the first place. That didn't make the facts of why she suddenly was walking to class alone and why her phone was barren of any messages aside from Rose any less saddening.

 

God forbid she show her face at any of their home games. She felt mortification heat up her face every time she even glanced in the direction of the athletic building. Amethyst had maintained their Snapchat streak out of courtesy, Pearl was pretty sure, but gone were the goofy back and forth pictures. Now all she got was the generic “good morning, streaks!” photo sent to however many other people she maintained a streak with. There was no doubt Pearl had at least somewhat pissed off the rest of the women’s volleyball team with the way she treated Garnet. It didn’t matter how little Garnet cared about who they befriended; it seemed they didn’t want to talk to her anyway.

 

She only responded to Amethyst’s snapchats with a black screen. Dramatic, she knew.

 

What had been the hardest thing, though? Suddenly she was seeing Garnet everywhere on campus.

 

And she was _glowing._

 

Well, she was always radiant, but the closer they got into spring, the more sunlight bathed the campus in its rays. Her skin looked unreal, beaming with an undertone of gold beneath the sun, her afro framed her face like a crown, and her smile put the blooming flowers around her to shame. She was always in a crowd, generally with her teammates, but sometimes with other semi-familiar faces. They seemed to walk around her like a barricade, and it was only upon closer inspection that Pearl realized why.

 

They were giving her support. She was smiling, yes, laughing at whatever goofy thing Amethyst did, or whatever dorky thing Peridot said, but her resting expression was so _sad_ . The women of the team were working like a bubble of protection around her; they must have been. They had never moved in a pack before recently. Pearl felt a sharp pang of hurt spear through her every time she saw Garnet around. The idea that she had been the first person to break Garnet’s heart at all, let alone over being such an _idiot,_ was just depressing.

 

She had given herself one single goal in the beginning of their relationship: Don’t hurt Garnet.

 

She had laughed at herself over how simple that instruction was, and yet here she was.

 

Pearl made her way to her usual spot in the cafe after class and set all of her things out on the heavy wood of the table. Her physics book was weighty in her arms, but she placed it down and opened it to the page she needed to study. The indie music playing over the speakers did little to stop her mind from wandering back to Garnet’s words from a couple weeks ago.

 

_“Do not guilt me into forgiving you for this. How hard is it to apologize and acknowledge that you’ve really hurt me without making it about yourself?”_

 

Is that really what she had been doing? She surely hadn’t _meant_ to make everything about herself. It was just that Garnet had been yelling, and it had been really upsetting to have Garnet so upset _at_ her and—

 

This was exactly what she had meant, though, wasn’t it? Why was she upset that Garnet was upset _at her_ instead of focusing on why Garnet was upset to begin with? She stopped writing notes in her notebook and pressed her index finger and thumb to her eyes.

 

 _Do not cry in this cafe_.

 

“...Pearl?”

 

Blue eyes snapped upward, hastily wiping away any stray tears before they could streak down her red cheeks. “Rose! Hi!” Her voice was too enthusiastic. Who was she kidding, of course Rose could tell when she had been crying no matter what she tried to pretend. She let the fake smile drop pathetically.

 

“Oh, sweetheart…” Rose’s voice was gentle, calming. It only made Pearl cry even more. Suddenly large arms were warm around her shoulders as Rose hugged her from behind and over the back of the chair. She smelled like her favorite strawberry shampoo and something else floral that washed over Pearl like a fresh breeze. Her hair tickled Pearl’s shoulders and neck.

 

She hadn't realized how badly she just needed a hug until that moment. She brought her wiry fingers up to curl around the fleshy skin of Rose’s arms, and pull the other woman even closer. Her eyes fluttered closed as they sat and stood in that position. Pearl’s breathing evened out drastically and she took one last deep breath before releasing her friend.

 

“Thank you. I— I really needed that.”

 

“I know you did,” Rose crooned, brushing Pearl’s hair out of her face affectionately. “I figured you would be here. I tried to call, but your phone went straight to voicemail,” she explained as she walked around the table to occupy the seat directly across from Pearl.

 

Pearl pursed her lips as she glanced down at her phone laying face down on the table beside her physics book. “I put it on ‘do not disturb’ so that I could focus on my studying.”

 

_It’s not like anyone but Rose was looking for you, anyway._

 

Pearl shook the thought out.

 

“Well, it didn't work because I’m here to disturb you. Pack up, we’re going out for lunch.”

 

Blue eyes darted up to the deep brown ones of her best friend, “Do we have to?”

 

Rose laughed low in her chest, propping her round cheek in her hand and looking at Pearl with some mix of pity and understanding. “Oh, Pearl. Let me cheer you up and spread some wisdom while I’m at it.”

 

“Spread some wisdom?” Pearl’s voice was quiet, barely a mumble above the background music playing over the speakers of the cafe.

 

“You’ll see. Let's go, sweetheart.”

 

And so the duo ended up at an Italian place on campus, sitting on opposite sides of the table with one thin crust veggie pizza between the both of them. Rose happily nibbled on her third slice while Pearl despondently picked at her first.

 

“Come on, Pearl, you love veggie pizza!” Rose pouted from over her own slice.

 

“I don't have much of an appetite right now,” Pearl said.

 

“Okay, let’s talk about it.”

 

“Talk about what?” Pearl lazily dragged her gaze up from the mush of picked-over pizza in front of her, slipping the napkin she placed over her thighs off so that she could wipe the tomato paste from her fingers.

 

“Why Garnet broke up with you,” Rose said candidly.

 

Pearl felt a pang behind her chest at the mere mentioning of her name, and then the backs of her eyes were tingling with the tell-tale sign of tears. “I know why she broke up with me.”

 

“Oh? Tell me, then.” Rose placed her half-eaten slice down onto the glass plate and bridged her hands together, propping her chin up on the surface they made.

 

“I avoided her for more than half of our relationship because I was afraid she would leave me, which doesn’t sound logical, granted, but it’s true.”

 

Rose considered that explanation for a moment, seeming to roll it around in her head before responding, “I don’t think that’s it. I think Garnet would’ve forgiven that and helped you work through it if you’d just been honest with her from the beginning.”

 

Pearl’s head tilted in confusion.

 

“From what you told me about your argument, it sounded like you were more worried about your own feelings than hers. You can’t be selfish in relationships, Pearl. Her pain should have mattered just as much as yours in that moment, but instead you asked her to _stop yelling at you_ ,” Rose stopped to give Pearl an exasperated look, “because _you_ were upset.”

 

Pearl ducked her head in shame.

 

“Try to imagine how _she_ felt, Pearl, if you were so upset by just her anger. She had every right to be pissed off, damn, the only reason I’m not pissed at you myself is because you’re my best friend and I know you weren’t _trying_ to be an asshole. Even though you were one. I’d say sorry, but it’s true.”

 

“Rose, please—”

 

“Please what? Lay off of you? No. You need to hear this so you don’t do it again.” Rose took a long sip of her strawberry iced tea. She dabbed at her damp lips with a napkin after setting the glass down.

 

“Listen, I’m not trying to be mean, Pearl, but I care about you a lot. And I grew to care about Garnet a lot after meeting her through you even though she and I aren’t that close. That means I need you to fix this so that she can feel better and you can stop moping around our room, cleaning things that are already spotless just because you can’t sleep through your guilt.”

 

Pearl felt a mixture of sadness and gratitude swirl and battle in her gut before her mouth finally settled on a quiet, “Thank you.”

 

“No problem. Now, go order a slice of Garnet’s favorite pizza and march it up to her room— I know she’s there because I texted Opal ten minutes ago. You’re gonna give her a _real_ apology and a pizza-offering.” Rose’s face morphed into a massive grin at her accidental pun. A laugh bubbled from her lips happily, “A _pizza_ -offering! Like a peace offering! Oh my stars!”

 

Pearl’s lips curled upward into a small smile at both the sheer delight on her friend’s face and the absolute dorkiness of her newest pun. “ _That_ is a bad pun, Rose.”

 

“Bullshit, that was _golden_ ,” she schooled her features back to seriousness. “Don’t get distracted! You’re gonna take her your _pizza_ -offering,” she giggled, “and give your new and improved apology. You’re not asking her to take you back. You’re just letting her know that you understand where she was coming from and that you regret your actions and won’t do it again, etcetera, etcetera. Got it?”

 

“I’m not so sure she wants to see me—”

 

“No, I’m not letting you wimp out of this. You owe her at least that much,” Rose said.

 

Pearl deflated and dropped her eyes down to her hands where they rested on her lap. After a long moment of talking herself into not being a ‘wimp,’ as Rose had put it, she held her head up high and nodded once to herself.

 

“Okay,” she murmured. Then, more firmly this time, “ _Okay._ I’m going to do this the right way.”

 

“That’s my girl.” Rose smiled.

 

///

 

When Garnet opened the door, it was as if all of the mental preparation Pearl had done for that very moment had flown out of the window. Her abundance of curls were slicked back into a tight ponytail. She was half dressed in that she wore a maroon Homeworld University hoodie and a pair of black and maroon plaid boxers she was clearly using as sleep shorts. A pair of clear, rectangular glasses were perched on her nose.

 

Pearl’s mouth was dry and the apology on her tongue was suddenly nowhere to be found.

 

She looked at her and felt every kiss, every touch, all over again. She heard every whisper and laugh, and her eyes were prickling with tears again. Garnet was standing there waiting with furrowed brows and confused eyes for Pearl to spit out whatever the hell she was going to say. She didn't even step to the side to offer her entry to the room. Pearl knew, logically, she was not entitled to that courtesy, but that didn't make it sting any less.

 

“H—hi.” She breathed eventually.

 

Garnet leaned on the door frame and pushed her glasses up her nose, “Yes?”

 

“Are those new? The glasses?” Pearl blurted. Heat flooded her cheeks as she mentally reprimanded herself for veering so far off track.

 

“...No. I just wear contacts most times,” Garnet said.

 

“Oh. I’ve just,” Pearl cleared her throat, “never seen you wear them before.”

 

“Well,” Garnet sniffed, “maybe you’d have noticed if you’d been around.”

 

The tell-tale prickling behind her eyes was back, but the last thing she needed was to have walked all the way to Garnet’s door only to start blubbering on her doorstep. She took a deep breath and remembered the warm box of deep dish sausage pizza in her hands. She shoved her arms out robotically at her ex-girlfriend. “I, erm, brought you this.”

 

Garnet warily eyed the pizza, and then Pearl once more. Her hands reached out to take it with great hesitation, tilting the cover of the box upward to peer inside before closing it again. “Thank you?” It sounded like she wasn't sure how to respond. “Is that all? You came all the way over to bring… pizza?”

 

“Ah, no? No. I would like to— It’s a pizza offering. Get it?” The awkward laugh that spilled from her lips made her want to smack her own forehead in frustration with herself. No one person should be able to be so _un_ smooth.

 

“What?”

 

“Stars, I’d like to apologize?”

 

“You don’t sound too sure about that,” Garnet said.

 

Pearl steadied herself with another deep breath and tilted her chin upward to at least pretend like she held an ounce of confidence in herself.

 

 _Screw it. Just_ talk.

 

“I’m sorry. I’m _so_ sorry for the way I treated you while we were together, and I’m sorry for how I handled things when you confronted me about it.” She gained momentum with her words as she saw the look of surprise on Garnet’s face. “I hadn’t realized that I was making everything about me when you were obviously so hurt by my actions. I’m trying to unlearn that habit… It’s a nasty one to have.” Her last sentence was a guilty mumble and she dropped her eyes to the thin, maroon carpet of the hallway. “I should have come to you when I first started feeling the way I was. You deserved my honesty, and I didn’t give it to you. I apologize for that, too.” Pearl lifted her gaze back up, “If there’s anything I can do to make it up to you, I will do it.”

 

Garnet studied her for a long moment, looking down at Pearl and searching her gaze through the thin lenses of her glasses. After a while, she pushed off of the doorframe and stepped backward to let her inside. Pearl hesitantly stepped forward into the spacious dorm room and gnawed on her bottom lip with nerves. Garnet folded one leg beneath herself as she sat down on the couch and motioned for Pearl to have a seat as well. She placed the pizza box down on the wooden coffee table. One of its legs was shorter than the other three, so it put the box on a lean when she placed it on the surface.

 

“I appreciate the apology,” Garnet started as she leaned back into the opposite arm of the couch. “Thank you.”

 

“No problem,” Pearl said meekly as she tried not to stare at the lovely arch that was the cupid’s bow of Garnet’s top lip. She continued to bite her own bottom lip as she averted her stare to the pale hands in her lap.

 

“You really hurt me.”

 

Pearl’s eyes darted up and a pang throbbed in her chest at the admission. Garnet was so blase about the sentence, her facial expression hadn’t even changed, but Pearl knew that was just a front. She may not have known that her ex girlfriend wore glasses, but she absolutely knew her tendency to either give the cold shoulder or explode at things that deeply upset her. “I know.”

 

“Then you also know I can’t just go back to how things were between us.”

 

Pearl bit her lip so hard she tasted copper, “Yeah.”

 

“I don’t mind being friends though, and seeing where things go from there. It’s clear you’ve still got some things to work through yourself.” Garnet said softly. The way her accent curved the words sent a stab of nostalgia through Pearl’s heart. She missed when the tone had been loving instead of so _sad_.

 

“I’m still here for you, but you knew that as well.” Garnet said.

 

“Yeah,” Pearl repeated with a despondent smile. She never doubted Garnet was ever there for a second. It was fearing that fact instead of utilizing it that had ruined things in the first place.

 

“You don’t have to sound so sad about it,” Garnet tried to joke through her own watery smile, hastily swiping beneath her glasses at a stray tear she probably hadn’t wanted existing to begin with.

 

Pearl let a broken-hearted laugh erupt from between her lips, and suddenly the dam holding her tears back exploded. She was laughing and crying, and Garnet couldn’t hold her tears back either. They silently rolled down the sharp angle of her pretty cheekbones and dripped from her chin onto her lap. The smile on her full lips insisted on shining through the cloud hanging over her head, and they laughed through their dramatics together.

 

After a long moment of hesitation, Garnet held one arm out to gesture for Pearl to come hug her. Pearl tried not to seem too eager, but the way she crawled across the couch to fall into her embrace destroyed any pretense of distance she wanted to maintain. Their arms folded around each other in mutual comfort, but Pearl squeezed extra hard to further convey feelings that she just didn’t know how to express verbally. The little sniffle in her ear in response only made her hold on tighter.

 

A slow clapping sound drew the two away from each other and brought their gazes to the kitchen doorway. There stood Opal with a proud look of approval on her round face as she brought her hands together and apart. “How hard was that? Stars, it’s been like two weeks. About time you two kissed and made up.”

 

“We’re not…” Pearl started, gesturing vaguely with her hands to indicate their demoted relationship status.

 

“Not… together? Please, you’ll be having your not-so-discreet sex that always gets a bit too loud in no time. Probably right where you’re sitting.” Opal shrugged.

 

“ _Opal_!” Pearl gasped in response immediately, and Garnet’s cheeks darkened with an undertone of maroon.

 

“I’m just being honest.” She smirked as she sauntered down the short hallway to her bedroom.

 

“Right, well go be honest somewhere else!” Garnet called to her back. The door closed behind her and the ex-lovers were left with burning faces and more distance between them than last time.

 

The following silence was heavy now that the feelings were out of the way. Neither of them could make out just how to act with each other in these updated circumstances. Where their time together like this would typically be spent cuddling in front of the television or succumbing to the heat of passion, they instead held an empty slot where those activities used to fill their time.

 

Talking was always an option, they could speak for hours, but the awkward tension remaining between them made it feel strange to jump straight into conversation about their days and the latest gossip around campus.

 

And so they sat there, Pearl staring at her hands in her lap and Garnet gazing off to the side.

 

“I, um, have an essay to finish that I’ve been putting off for too long, so I should probably go take care of that.” Pearl moved to stand up, rubbing her hands together awkwardly.

 

Garnet’s eyes darted up to meet hers through the lenses of her glasses. “It's storming out,” she said in opposition, but Pearl had seen only clear skies on her walk over to Garnet’s dorm building.

 

Before she could express that fact, a crack of thunder shot through her ears, one that practically shook the building. She jumped a foot in the air as a squeak left her lips. Garnet chuckled in amusement before standing up and stretching her arms in the air. Her back cracked several times with the movement.

 

“Finish it here. I don't mind,” Garnet said.

 

“Are you sure? I couldn't impose—”

 

“Pearl,” Garnet turned her mismatched eyes onto her ex girlfriend with a look that hit Pearl straight in the chest, “you're still welcome here whenever. I’m not petty.”

 

Pearl’s heart swelled with gratitude for this woman who was still so kind to her even after tumultuous nature of their relationship.

 

“I’ll be in my room if you need anything— but you know where everything is.” Garnet meandered off toward the room she shared with Amethyst and left the door cracked open behind her. A few moments after Pearl had sat down with her laptop and notes out, music started playing softly from the bedroom and Amethyst could be heard laughing every once and awhile— probably at something Garnet said.

 

She missed doing that. She missed her and Garnet’s interactions, and she knew she had no right to be upset because this was her own fault.

 

That thought somehow didn't make the ache in her heart hurt any less.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for breaking everyone's hearts last chapter lmfao.
> 
> This chapter was actually finished two days ago, but I've been way too busy to post it until now, so here it is :)
> 
> Let me know what you thought about Garnet's reaction to Pearl's apology, or the apology in general, or even Rose's "keeping it real" moment with Pearl.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone gets injured on the court, Pearl finally gets what she wants, and Jasper has a crush on Sardonyx (but don't we all?).

**Chapter 9**

 

“We play against Diamond State University in _three weeks._ ” Coach Bismuth paced slowly back and forth in front of the large group of women that made up Homeworld University’s women’s volleyball team. Her locked hair was piled into a long ponytail at the top of her head, the locks decorated with rainbow colored beads and metallic rings throughout them. Sneaker clad feet squeaked with each turn of her heel to walk in the opposite direction.

 

“As your coach it is my duty to prepare you for the court like a teacher prepares her student. I want you to remember that that’s _all_ I’m here to do. When you step onto that court there's nothing I can do but hope that you use the knowledge I’ve given you.”

 

The women of the team stood in a wide circle around their pacing coach, each making grave eye contact with Bismuth every time she shifted her brown eyed gaze around the group.

 

“I can't play for you. You have to go out there and want that win for _yourself_ . Not for me, and not for the people in the stands. You have to be able to walk off of that court after that game is over, win or lose, and be able to truthfully tell yourself that you did _everything_ you could out there, that you were the best player you could be, and I believe each of you is capable of beating the dog shit out of Diamond State.”

 

Garnet made eye contact with Opal, then Amethyst and Jasper, across the circle from where she stood. The bloodthirsty grins they shared only served to increase the anticipation burning through everyone's veins.

 

“Now let's get practice started, shall we?”

 

Every woman placed her hand in the center of the circle they created. Garnet’s voice was strong and proud when she yelled, “ _Homeworld on three_! One, two three,”

 

“ _Homeworld!”_ Each voice sounded off like a war cry.

 

///

 

“Wait, so what happened with Lapis?”

 

“I dunno. Shit was just _awkward_ , y’know?”

 

Garnet nudged one of Amethyst’s socks out of the way with her covered toe only to discover a button hiding beneath it. She bent down from where she sat on the edge of her bed and picked it up between her thumb and forefinger.

 

“Hm. With Peridot?” Garnet asked.

 

“Yeah! Like, even though she’s with Ame now, it was like I was violating some kinda ‘bro code,’ or whatever.” Jasper said. She sat slumped over in the room’s desk chair, facing away from the desk and looking raggedly at Garnet. Her elbows propped her torso up atop her muscular thighs, which were bare due to the baggy running shorts she wore.

 

“And how did that make you feel?”

 

“Shut the fuck up,” Jasper laughed, using the long length of her arms to reach out and punch Garnet in the leg. “Goddamn psych majors.”

 

Garnet’s lips quirked up into a teasing smile, “So, Sardonyx then?” She eyed the button between her fingers when Jasper turned her gaze up to the ceiling for a long moment. It was from Pearl’s shirt. The one they had ripped apart on one of the nights that they—

 

“ _Sardonyx_ …” Jasper sighed her name blissfully, like a slow exhale of cigarette smoke, “Garnet, _that_ is a woman. And it’s not even just the ‘I’ll let you sit on my face’ kinda attraction! I wanna, like, open doors for her and hold her hand and shit.”

 

“Chivalrous.”

 

“I know right? Anyway, what’s up with you and Pearl?” Jasper asked, folding her arms behind her head and leaning back in the desk chair until it squeaked under her weight.

 

Garnet nearly dropped the button between her fingers at the unexpected nature of the question. Instead, she discreetly closed her fist around it and shrugged her shoulders. “Nothing. She’s doing her thing, and I’m doing mine.”

 

“There’s a rumor going around that she cheated on you,” Jasper smirked in amusement.

 

Garnet didn’t find it entertaining.

 

“She didn’t.”

 

“Don’t you wanna know who they’re saying she cheated with?” Jasper asked.

 

“No,” Garnet said flatly. She clutched her fist tighter around the button.

 

“Sheena. Freshman chick in her physics class? She’s an engineering major with a minor in music theory, can you believe it?” It looked like Jasper was going to tell her regardless. “Poor girl can’t hear the end of it. Even when the great Garnet Payton gets ‘cheated on,’ apparently everyone still worships the ground you walk on. No way they’re leaving her ass alone after this.”

 

“Is this a joke to you?” Garnet snapped. “Is my love life some— reality show you all have a laugh at when shit gets too boring ‘round here? All the _fucked up_ things in this world to talk about, and you lot can only focus on me and Pearl? Go fuck off.”

 

“Woah, Garnet, wait I didn’t have anything to do with—”

 

“No, but you laughed about it, didn’t you? Took the piss out of that poor girl and all the shit she’s got to go through because people can’t mind their damn business, _didn’t you_?”

 

“‘Took the piss?’ What are you even saying? Is that some kinda Brit lingo or something?”

 

Garnet dropped her head into her hands, one still curled into a fist around a button that felt like it was burning a hole through her skin. Her shoulders rose and fell with a deep sigh that filled the otherwise silent room. “‘S not the point, Jasper.” She rubbed quickly at her eyes before raising them to level a hard stare on her teammate, “I’d like to be alone, please.”

 

“C’mon… don't be like that.” Jasper looked at her in disbelief.

 

“ _Now_. Please,” Garnet said.

 

Jasper stared at her for a long moment as if making sure she was serious before abruptly getting to her feet and marching out of the room with flared nostrils and clenched fists. Garnet heard the front door open and close behind her and threw her body back until her torso and head hit the mattress below her.

 

A prickling sensation began right behind her closed eyelids and she shoved her wrists against them to stave off the tears. No one but Pearl had ever made her cry this much.

 

_Why'd you have to go and ruin us?_

 

Garnet shouted the thought in her own mind as if it would somehow reach Pearl so that she could get an answer. It wasn't as if she didn't know it after Pearl’s apology, but somehow that explanation made it worse— made it harder to be angry at her when she _knew_ she should be.

 

Having Pearl in her arms again for those brief moments after they cried together on her couch, before Opal interrupted, felt like a balm on the hole that felt like it was ripped across her chest. Pearl did that. She was the problem and the solution, the poison and the antidote.

 

Garnet tried to sniff to clear her nose, but it had gotten stuffy as the silent tears were rolling down her cheeks and pooling in her ears. Her lips parted to get a deep breath and instead, when she exhaled, a whimper escaped. She clenched her teeth together angrily in response to the sound. She _hated_ Pearl for making her feel like this.

 

She also knew that she could never hate Pearl. Not really.

 

She pulled her wrists from her eyes and sat up, opening the fist with the button inside of it. She held it between her thumb and forefinger once more and examined it in the light.

 

It was simple. Light blue, slightly transparent, with four little holes in the center. Garnet swallowed heavily and, with a flick of her wrist, tossed it directly into the garbage can across the room.

 

“Swish,” she tried to joke to make herself feel better. It didn't work.

 

///

 

Garnet limped out of the locker room with her backpack slung over one shoulder and both hands buried into her hair to wrestle it into a ponytail. Her first class on Tuesday started at 10AM, the same time that their morning practice was finished. Every time, she had to rush to her class to make sure she missed as little as possible, but today she couldn't. Today, being distracted by her perpetual thoughts of Pearl was finally the thing that tipped her past the breaking point.

 

Leave it to her to be so sidetracked by her own broken heart that she didn't hear her teammates shouting for her not to jump while a ball was rolling beneath the net. She had come down jerkily, her foot landing on the volleyball that rolled out from under her weight, twisting her ankle with it.

 

The scream that had torn from between her lips sounded like a stranger's.

 

Seconds later, a crowd of the bodies of her teammates were huddled around her. They closed in and she could hardly catch her breath to tell them to _back the hell up_ through the searing pain shooting from her right ankle to her shin. Bismuth’s voice was the first thing to cut through the fog of pain clouding her mind.

 

“Garnet, can you walk? Come on, try and get up with me.” She coached her through it in a voice much gentler than usual as she slipped her broad arm beneath Garnet’s shoulders and helped her to her feet. Garnet gingerly stepped her foot out to test just how bad the sprain was, and the result was a sharp hiss from between her teeth.

 

Her ankle was _throbbing_.

 

“I— can’t walk.” She gritted out.

 

A deep sigh rattled through Bismuth’s lips, and she turned her rage toward the women sympathetically crowding around them. “Did I not tell you all to shag the balls during this drill _explicitly_ so that this wouldn’t happen? What did I say you would do if any of you let a ball roll under the net while they were hitting?” Her voice might as well have sounded like the crack of a whip for how it shot fear down the spines of the surrounding players.

 

Lapis supplied a meek, but helpful, answer to her question.

 

“Five by tens,” she gulped, her fists clenching in nervous anticipation of the way all of their legs were about to shrivel up and die.

 

“You all heard her! On the line, _now_!” Bismuth snapped, and the rest of the team, sans Garnet, scattered into position on one of the two longest sides of the volleyball court.

 

Bismuth’s whistle rang sharply through the gym and they took off running the short way five times down and back. In the meantime, their coach helped Garnet limp over to the sidelines and onto two chairs— one to sit down on and the other to elevate her ankle with.

 

“Peridot!” Bismuth yelled.

 

The volleyball assistant scurried over quickly with wide eyes that couldn’t leave Garnet’s quickly swelling ankle for the life of her. “Yes, coach?”

 

“Go get a bag of ice from the training room. Now.” As soon as Peridot had bolted off toward the double doors, Bismuth blew the whistle a second time, signalling the team to take off running again. “It’s a _sprint_ , not a jog!” She shouted.

 

Garnet’s head was thrown back so that her dual colored eyes focused on the blinding fluorescent lights of the gym to distract her from the ache shooting from her ankle, down to her toes, and up to her shin. Two rows of straight teeth grinded anxiously behind Garnet’s pursed lips as she waited for Peridot to return with the ice that would bring her soothing numbness.

 

A part of her wanted to resent Pearl for this. She wanted to be allowed to bask in the pettiness that blaming Pearl would take, to point the metaphorical finger at her for diving into her head and turning everything inside out. Except, Garnet couldn’t, in good conscience, pile all of her shortcomings since Pearl’s wreckage of all things calm and collected in her life onto her ex’s narrow shoulders.

 

Logically, Garnet knew that this particular event was her own fault for wallowing in her own shit while she should have been one-hundred percent focused on the sport. If she wanted to reach a bit in the blame game, she could even say that her team should have been more mindful of where balls were rolling while her position was up to practice hitting sharp cross.

 

Garnet closed her eyes against the harsh overhead lights hanging from the high ceiling; it left a splotch of red and orange behind her eyelids. She wasn’t sure how long she had been zoned out, focusing on her breathing instead of the searing pain in her ankle, but eventually the frozen balm of an ice bag brought her back to awareness. The first things she heard were the disjointed squeaks of the gym shoes of her team mates as they sprinted to one line, pivoted, and sprinted to the opposite one again, and again, and again.

 

“Thanks, Perri,” Garnet sighed in appreciation.

 

“Is there anyone you want me to call?” Peridot’s voice was low with her worry, and her hands clenched and unclenched at her sides anxiously.

 

Garnet’s warm laugh and easy smile seemed to put her at ease though. “Nah, I’m a big girl. No need to get my parents worried for no reason.”

 

“Okay. Do you need anything else? Water? Something to elevate your ankle? You're supposed to keep it appropriately six inches in the air while you ice—”

 

“Peridot,” Garnet gave her an appreciative smile, “I’m fine, really. Thank you.”

 

Peridot released a slow breath through her thin lips, nodding several times with a sincerity that made Garnet's chest warm. "Do you need help getting to class after practice?”

 

“No,” Garnet waved her off, “I’ll be okay to get there.”

 

Garnet hadn't wanted anyone going out of their way to dote on her while she was hurt. The thought was that she would be fine in a few days, tops. Except she seemed to have overestimated her ability to recover because, as she limped out of the locker room after practice, she caught Peridot’s worried eyes across the hallway.

 

She finished throwing her hair back into a ponytail and let her hands fall down to her sides with a quiet slap against her bare legs beneath her running shorts. Peridot was standing by the corner of the hallway with Amethyst at her side, who twisted her lips up into a sympathetic grimace.

 

“Damn, G. You think you’ll have to sit out for the rest of the week?” Amethyst asked.

 

“I’m not going to,” Garnet started with a determined glint in her eye, “no matter what it feels like.”

 

Peridot eyed her warily, holding her small hands out for Garnet’s maroon athletic backpack. Taking the weight into her own arms, she frowned, “You shouldn't play if your ankle is really bothering you. That'll make it worse.”

 

“The season’s almost over. I have to be able to play against Diamond State. What happens when I go get it checked out and I’m not cleared to practice? I won't get any playing time; you know how Bismuth is!” Garnet hastily made a case for herself, but in reality she knew that Bismuth would play her regardless. It was the idea of not being able to train, of sitting down useless while everyone else prepared to go against Diamond State, and of being— weak.

 

And she knew the rest of her team was no better than herself; they were each culprits of downplaying an injury to keep playing, to stay on the court. It was always different when it was someone else though, which was why she didn't point fingers at anyone else. It was so easy to tell when someone should sit out until it was your own ass on the line.

 

Amethyst looked at her as if she could see right through her excuses.

 

She probably could.

 

Garnet instead turned to focus her gaze entirely on Peridot and nodded toward the door that exited toward the part of campus Garnet usually took to get to class. “Thanks for carrying my bag, Peri. I’ll be good for it tomorrow, promise.”

 

Peridot twisted her lips up as if she didn't believe her, and Garnet had to decide, as she limped toward the door, that she didn't care.

 

///

 

The last person Garnet expected to see as she limped back up to her dorm room was Pearl, sitting with her knees pulled to her chest next to the locked door. When she rounded the corner, bag slung over both shoulders, Pearl didn't see her immediately. She sat with her hands propped atop her lap and picked at the skin around her fingernails. She was a ball of nerves if Garnet had ever seen one with her bottom lip clutched between her teeth and her left foot tapping rapidly against the worn carpet.

 

“Pearl?”

 

At the sound of her voice, Pearl scrambled up to her feet. Her hands frantically brushed invisible dust from her pants and she shot Garnet a nervous smile. “Garnet! Hi!”

 

“D’you need something?”

 

“No, ah, I actually was walking back from my 8AM and saw you limping across the quad with Peridot carrying your things… and wanted to know if you were alright.” Pearl’s confidence in her words seemed to fluctuate throughout her sentence, and Garnet couldn’t help but put her out of her misery. She sidestepped Pearl and unlocked the door with the turn of a key and a flick of her wrist. As she took the first step into the living area, Pearl nearly bumped into her back in her effort to follow Garnet in. The taller woman’s strides were generally much longer, but with her injured ankle she moved slower and Pearl overestimated her own steps in response.

 

An awkward laugh passed between them both and seemed to lighten the heavy pressing of the air caused by residual tension. Pearl stood by the now closed door until Garnet tossed her bag to the side and plopped down on the couch, motioning for her to do the same.

 

“While I appreciate your concern, it's not a big deal,” Garnet said.

 

“And while I appreciate your tough ‘I can do anything’ exterior, it certainly seems like a big deal,” Pearl countered. As she moved to sit down, she let her eyes fall onto Garnet’s wrapped ankle, swollen even through the cloth, and immediately stopped in her tracks to veer toward the kitchen.

 

“Where are you going, Pearl?” Garnet sighed, exasperation making her voice nearly sound like a whine.

 

“Lay across the couch and set your foot up on the arm rest,” she called from the kitchen, “and please don't fight me on this because I’m not letting you stop me.”

 

All she could hear was some rustling and clinking, and Garnet’s lips were parted to ask just what the hell Pearl was talking about when she reemerged from the kitchen with a ziplock bag full of ice and a paper towel. The groan that escaped Garnet’s lips drew a warning glare from Pearl as she pulled off Garnet’s shoe and sock to raise the material of her sweatpant leg and expose the wrapped cloth of her ankle to the open air. With a prompting look from those familiar piercing blue eyes, Garnet grudgingly assumed the position Pearl had told her to take on the couch.

 

“I’m going to unwrap this, okay? You should let it breathe and do some exercises to regain full mobility throughout the day.”

 

“Pearl,” Garnet huffed, “It’s not a big deal! You don't have to do all this.”

 

“What did I say about fighting me? Now, hold still,” she instructed while unwrapping the compression cloth from Garnet’s ankle. She laid the paper towel across the swollen skin as a barrier between her skin and the ice bag before setting the ice carefully atop the injured area.

 

“I’m positive you have better things to do than babysit me and my gross ankle,” Garnet mumbled with one arm thrown over her eyes while Pearl flitted about her ankle to make sure the ice was placed just right.

 

“Well, I want to be here, and I know how you are about needing to put on a brave front, so no call for help is required. I’m here on my own and you can still keep your pride intact,” Pearl murmured the last sentence as if she wasn't sure she was allowed to say what she did, or maybe she was afraid of Garnet’s reaction to her words.

 

“You think this is about my pride?”

 

“What other reason would you have for pretending that what is clearly a severe sprain in your inner ankle is something you can walk off on the way to and from class?” Pearl asked.

 

“Perhaps my obligation to my team? The fact that they rely on me as their captain and need to feel that I’ve got their backs on the court— and I can't do that if I’m sitting out doing fuck all on the bench!” Garnet’s voice was tense, and Pearl wished she could see the look on her face, but she still hadn't moved her arm from over her eyes.

 

“I don't think you give them enough credit, Garnet,” Pearl said gently.

 

“Don't talk to me about not giving enough credit, Pearl,” Garnet responded coldly. She could feel herself lashing out to make up for how useless she felt with this dumb injury that she still wanted so badly to blame Pearl for— but she couldn't stop once she had started.

 

“What?” Pearl asked, taken aback.

 

“I don't give them enough credit? You didn't give me enough credit. I trusted you with so much of myself and you couldn't even trust me enough to tell me you were scared of— of us.” Garnet’s voice broke, and Pearl could then only tell that she was hiding tears beneath her arm.

 

Guilt rushed back into Pearl’s veins like slivers of ice that pricked her arms into goosebumps and made her hands jerk back from Garnet’s ankle like she’d been struck.

 

Garnet released a heavy sigh and moved her arm only wipe up and down her face with both hands several times. “Whatever. ‘S over now, anyway. As long as you're happy, yeah?” she mumbled sarcastically and placed the crook of her arm back over her dual colored eyes.

 

“Garnet..” Pearl whispered, reaching out to move her arm out of the way. She met no resistance. “You're the one who wanted to just be friends.”

 

“Because that's the right thing to do, isn't it? I’d be a fool to take you right back after what happened. I was trying to be the adult and look after myself and all it's done is make everything harder,” Garnet’s eyes were so unbearably sad, and Pearl didn't know what to do that wouldn't make their predicament worse. She knelt down on the floor beside the couch and took Garnet’s warm cheeks between her own cold, thin hands. Her thumbs stroked comfortingly up and down her pronounced cheekbones before straying to her full lips.

 

Garnet’s breath stuttered in her throat, and some part of Pearl was alight with relief in her ability to still cause that reaction. They were quiet for a long moment while Pearl slowly dragged down the skin of Garnet’s bottom lip with her wandering thumb.

 

“If you're gonna kiss me, just do it already,” Garnet said. Her voice was strange, as if she had anticipated this moment from the second they entered the room— maybe from the moment Pearl showed up with a box of pizza and an apology on her lips.

 

Maybe Opal was right.

 

Her voice said that this was always inevitable, and that she hated it.

 

Pearl’s lips descended like an asteroid crashing to earth, and the relief that the contact caused extracted a whine straight from the back of her throat.

 

Garnet turned her torso upward to bury her hand in the downy strawberry blonde hair at the nape of Pearl’s elegant neck. She bit harshly at her bottom lip as if punishing her for pulling them back to this point, and Pearl’s answering moan sealed her fate when it prompted Garnet to kick off the damned ice bag and pull Pearl up onto the couch to straddle her hips.

 

She was careful not the break the kiss while they situated themselves, but eventually Pearl pulled away with swollen lips and scarlet cheeks, and looked down at Garnet as if she were awaiting a reprimand.

 

Unless that reprimand was Opal’s prediction for their reunion to be on that very couch, it didn't come.

  
Garnet pulled her back down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for being patient with the wait, the past two weeks (and this one, too really) have been disgustingly stressful and busy. I've been writing this chapter on and off for two weeks, and finally got a chance to sit down and finish it last night with some quick proof reading this morning (so hopefully I didn't miss anything)
> 
> Anyway! Let me know what you think about Garnet and Pearl's grudging reunion, about a potential Jasper/Sardonyx background, or your predictions for what the infamous Diamond State University has in store.
> 
> Much love!


	10. Chapter 10

“I understand that we’re not back together, and that last night wasn't supposed to mean anything, and that you  _ probably _ have a million better options than me, but is it still possible for me to win you back? Because I really miss you, and I know I probably don't deserve a second chance, but I want to prove myself to you,” Pearl said. Her voice stuttered and stumbled here and there, but she hoped that the delivery still got her message across. Were her words too jumbled? Her sentences too wordy?

 

Stars, what would Garnet say? Expressing herself shouldn't have to be so damn  _ hard _ !

 

Being met with nothing but the suffocating hands of silence, she turned around and tried to make eye contact with her new, and very much illegal in the eyes of the university, cat.

 

“Is that too much?” Pearl asked.

 

Lion, a name given to him by one very enamored Amethyst, only flicked his tail at her in response before shutting those bored eyes of his. Early afternoon sunlight bathed him in a halo of gold around his freshly groomed fur. The bastard was utterly at ease while she wore holes into her floorboards and monologued into her full length mirror to practice what she might one day build the courage to say to Garnet. 

 

Pearl’s poor roommates probably thought she was a basket case with how she had been lamenting to the air for over an hour. Thankfully both of them were far too prissy and polite to actively yell for her to “ _ shut the fuck up _ !” from the other room they shared directly beside hers. 

 

The perks of having four people to a two bedroom dorm apartment was that when one dropped out without a replacement, Pearl got an entire room to herself. She could be just as obsessive over her ex as she wanted in utter peace.

 

Aside from Lion and his ever-judgemental gaze.

 

“Asshole,” Pearl muttered. She dropped down onto the bed as heavily as she could with her minimal weight and purposely disturbed Lion’s sleep before it could even come to fruition. He opened one eye at her in warning before closing it once more.

 

“Lion,” Pearl groaned, “what am I going to say to her? She probably hates me, and only had intercourse with me out of pity,” she whined to the air.

 

“And I just said  _ intercourse _ . Why am I such a  _ loser _ ,” she threw her hands over her eyes and hunched over until her elbows rested upon her knees. After a long moment, she felt an extremely soft nudge at her thigh. When she looked up, Lion was gazing up at her with dark eyes as he nuzzled her leg. The white of his fur, pristine once getting out the pink dye, felt like the down of angel wings against her skin.

 

“Who am I kidding, Lion? It's never gonna happen, is it?” 

 

Lion yawned and stepped across her lap to place himself firmly across her thin thighs. His eyes closed immediately. Pearl watched him and ran her thin fingers through his soft fur as she thought.

 

“Maybe if I said … I’m sorry I was such an awful girlfriend, but if you give me another chance I can  _ almost  _ assure you that I won't do it again,” Pearl rolled her eyes at herself, “satisfaction or your money back guaranteed.” Her tone adopted one of a commercial salesperson in an attempt to lighten her own mood.

 

“Yeah, I wouldn't buy me either,” Pearl said when Lion merely ducked his head further into her lap to either nap or get away from her stars-awful prepping.

 

“Have you ever tried not planning what you'll say? How hard could it be, compared to this, to just go to her and say what you want from the heart?” Pearl asked herself. She kicked at the rug beneath her feet and let out a dejected sigh.

 

“Extremely hard because you're an idiot and she doesn't want you.”

 

///

 

“You're sleeping with her again?” Rose’s shocked voice was much louder than intended as she and Pearl sat in their usual seats. The lecture hall was filled with the sound of their professor speaking, but the charismatic, boisterous boy who sat in front of them both turned around in his seat with a look of surprise. 

 

His dark eyes locked onto Pearl’s with a curious expression, “You're into chicks?” he whispered.

 

“Are you surprised?” Pearl asked at the same time that Rose harshly whispered, “Turn around.”

 

He raised his hands in surrender and slowly turned back around to face the front of the hall. Pearl looked into Rose’s brown eyes, silently pleading with her to understand. “We’re not back together. We’re barely friends anymore, really, not like she is with her other friends.”

 

“Yeah, I doubt she’s sleeping with her other friends, Pearl,” Rose’s dyed hair was pulled into a high, curly ponytail, and she pulled at the tips of it through her stress.

 

“It's fine, Rose!” Pearl whispered, “Stop worrying about it,” she huffed.

 

Rose stared at her incredulously, “As sensitive as you are? You expect me to believe you can be casual fuck-buddies with your ex girlfriend while you're  _ still _ in love with her?”

 

“Who said I was in love with her?” Pearl’s voice raised several octaves in her whisper until the question came out like a squeak. Several people turned to them with stern eyes that said a silent “Shut up!”

 

Pearl sunk apologetically down in her chair while Rose merely stared them down until they turned away. 

 

“I certainly am  _ not  _ in love with Garnet,” Pearl tried once more, ensuring her whispers were low enough not to disturb anyone else. The tensing in her chest and stomach felt like her body was objecting the words, churning them into dust for immediate disposal. It felt like she didn't even believe herself.

 

Rose turned unconvinced eyes onto her, and Pearl shrunk deeper into her seat to avoid the elephant sized truth she knew was sitting between both of them.

 

Blue eyes turned back toward the front of the lecture hall where her dress shirt and pants clad professor stalked up and down the presentation space. His hand gestures were grand as he introduced them to The Iliad, and even still, Pearl couldn't make herself focus. She missed Garnet’s love like there was a hole in her stomach. The ache was comparable, and this was dramatic, she knew, to the realization she wouldn't be able to play volleyball in college after her injury.

 

Both had been her own fault; if only she were more careful.

 

She needed to win Garnet’s trust back, and she wasn't concerned with how long it would take because the knowledge that she broke it to begin with was punishment enough. 

 

Was it morally okay to keep sleeping with her under the guise of there being no strings attached while they worked through this all? Something in Pearl’s gut told her it was the last thing she should be doing when regaining someone’s trust.

 

That realization sunk into the pit of her stomach like a basket of rocks.

 

She'd have to earn it all back, one day at a time.

 

///

 

The phone screen reflected the sun harshly back into Pearl’s light eyes. Even with her brightness all the way up, she had to cup her fingers around the device to squint down into the screen and read the words there. When Garnet had shared her location all that time ago, Pearl never considered she would actually need to use it to track her down. The fact that she had only partially known Garnet’s schedule before they broke up would have come back to haunt her without it. 

 

She watched as the dot moved from the gym where the girls practiced to the locker rooms and set out with two bags in hand. Her own backpack was only heavy from the physics book tucked inside; she could have consolidated the weight by using the online version, but there was something about a crisp, freshly annotated textbook that felt more fulfilling.

 

As she made her way to the women’s volleyball locker room to wait, she forced down any budding anxiety over encountering the rest of the team for the first time since their breakup— aside from Opal of course.

 

Some part of her hoped with all of its might that Garnet would be the first to exit. This, she realized, was unrealistic.

 

Lapis walked into the hallway first, her dyed hair sticking to the sides of her face with water from what was likely a shower. Her leggings and athletic shirt made her look younger than she was. 

 

“Oh, Pearl. Why are you here?” 

 

Unused to the blunt nature of even Lapis’ most innocuous questions, Pearl stumbled over her response, “I—erm… I’m waiting for Garnet.”

 

With an unenthused nod, she hummed, “Cool.” Pearl watched her meander down the hallway toward the exit without another word.

 

After several more minutes, Garnet exited alongside Jasper and Opal— amused laughter on their lips in response to something Garnet had just finished saying— and they all came to a halt upon seeing Pearl waiting in the hallway.

 

Opal let a sly grin break across her lips, “If it isn't my favorite freshman.”

 

“Hello,” Pearl nodded toward her with a shy smile before looking up at Garnet’s perplexed face. “I brought you lunch,” she said. Her hand held out until the plastic bag dangled from her fingertips, and it was so reminiscent of the first time she had done it, before they were dating, that her face suffused with heat.

 

Garnet stared blankly at her for a long moment, and Pearl was quickly growing nervous, but then a small smile danced at the corner of her full lips and she raised her own hand to take it. Their fingers brushed and sent the feeling of an inflating balloon into Pearl’s chest. 

 

“Thanks, Pearl.”

 

With a tiny nod, Pearl cleared her throat and mumbled a shy, “You're welcome,” before turning on her heel to disappear from under the watchful gazes of three different people— one of which she was absolutely enamoured with. 

 

“Wait,” Garnet said.

 

“Yes?” Pearl turned back around and tried her very best not to look too hopeful— she wasn't sure if she was successful.

 

“You don't have to do all this,” Garnet said, raising the bag in her hand for emphasis. “Don’t feel like you have to go above and beyond just to prove a point.”

 

Pearl felt her head cock to the side like a confused dog. “A point? I don't see what you're saying.”

 

“You still feel guilty, and you want to win my trust back by acting the way you did before we dated. You can be authentic,” Garnet said, “I don't have any grand expectations, or any expectations at all really, anymore.”

 

“I… I’m not—” Pearl took a deep breath and tried to ignore the other four ears privy to their conversation, “I wasn't putting on a façade when we first met. I’m not putting one on now. I figured you shouldn't be walking so much after practice because, knowing you, you practiced on your ankle before it healed,” she shot a pointed glance at Garnet’s feet, “and I’m trying to help reduce the strain you put on it by making sure you don't have to walk to the dining hall.”

 

The red staining Pearl’s cheeks as she kept her gaze trained around the feet of the three women in front of her drew a feeling of regret in Garnet’s chest. This was a conversation they should have had in private— and assuming that she was only there to win her back was self centered, she thought. Anyway, Pearl was right; she  _ had _ lied about the status of her injury to her coach so that she could continue practicing, and her ankle  _ was  _ in anguish because of it.

 

Garnet bent her head to catch Pearl’s eyes and said, “You're right. I apologize, Pearl. I really do appreciate the gesture.”

 

Pearl nodded once and awkwardly stood with her hands at her side, still somehow feeling like they should be doing anything other than being stagnant.

 

“Is there enough in here for two?”

 

When Pearl’s head snapped up at the question, she tried to ignore the incredulous expression on Jasper’s face when the buff woman turned to look at Garnet as well. Opal glanced at her over Garnet’s head with a smug smirk that made Pearl wonder if they had bet on how long it would take her to get back into Garnet’s good graces.

 

“Two? Oh— um, I believe so,” Pearl said, her eyes rounding off into far too hopeful saucers.

 

“Would you like to go split this and watch apocalypse movies?” Garnet asked.

 

The offer settled in the air around them like a peace treaty rooted in nostalgia. Maybe their hookup the other night hadn’t meant nothing. Maybe this was Garnet extending an olive branch.

 

Pearl would be damned if she didn't take it.

 

“Yes, please, if that's alright with you.”

 

“If it wasn't she wouldn't have offered,” Jasper rolled her eyes as she brushed past Pearl to stalk down the hallway with her bookbag slung across her broad shoulder.

 

“Don't mind her. Jas could carry a grudge to the grave and into her next life if she wanted to,” Opal waved her hand off to the side as if brushing Jasper out of the conversation. “I’ll let you know if I need to stop by to get my notebook later,” she said, pointedly facing Garnet. 

 

From the way that Garnet’s cheeks darkened with burgundy, Pearl could insinuate that Opal’s sentence had something to do with checking in and making sure she wouldn't be walking into anything— explicit.

 

Pearl flushed as well.

 

Opal snorted at both of their expressions and sauntered off down the hallway the same way Jasper left with a warm laugh bouncing off of the walls.

 

///

 

Garnet was characteristically quiet as she stepped into her shared dorm room and slipped the sneakers from her feet. Pearl should have been used to the silence; it wasn't as if there was anything to even  _ say,  _ really. They used to just enjoy each other’s company quite often.

 

So why, then, did Pearl feel like she was being given the cold shoulder. This was Garnet’s idea was it not? Surely she wouldn't have asked her over only to be chilly toward her, would she?

 

_ Stop acting paranoid, idiot. She's just quiet, and she's probably tired from practice on top of that. Maybe she doesn't have anything to say because there's nothing  _ to  _ say unless you say something first. _

 

“How's your ankle?” Pearl asked. Her voice sounded loud in the otherwise silent room, but as Garnet plopped down onto the couch and flicked on the power button located on the remote, the sounds of cable television poured in.

 

“Swollen,” Garnet said through a sigh. She propped her foot up on the tilted coffee table in front of her and rotated it several times in what Pearl presumed were her mobility exercises.

 

“Should I get you some ice?” Pearl asked.

 

“You don't have to, Pearl. I didn't invite you over to make you play doctor,” Garnet said. Her eyes were closed as she tilted her head back upon the back of the couch. Her chest rose and fell in even breaths, and if she hadn't just been talking Pearl would have thought she had fallen asleep.

 

“Before you doze off on me, make sure you eat something,” Pearl said, sitting herself down on the couch with her legs crossed and a safe distance between herself and Garnet. 

 

She remembered the feel of it pressed to her bare back the last time she was there.

 

Her skin had stuck to the leather with sweat, both of their breaths intermingled between angry kisses and lustful moans. Garnet’s touch had been impersonal and rough, and even knowing the reason was that the last place she wanted to be was back in Pearl’s arms, Pearl still loved the way Garnet handled her. Even though her ex’s touch was not driven with want, but by a  _ need _ that she couldn't force down— because of  _ course _ Pearl pushed her control over the edge with that kiss— Pearl still felt something familiar in her touch that she craved like an addict going through withdrawals.

 

Blue eyes blinked rapidly to pull herself back to the present. She could feel heat lick across her cheeks, neck and chest and swallowed it all down in an act of valiant self control.

 

_ You are not sleeping with Garnet again until she decides to take you back. If she decides at all. _

 

She unintentionally released a heavy sigh while Garnet leaned over to the table and unwrapped her turkey sub. 

 

Turning amused, mismatched eyes to Pearl, Garnet said, “Am I moving too slow for you?” The teasing half-grin dancing across her lips shouldn't have made Pearl’s breath catch as it did.

 

“No! No, just— thinking.”

 

“About what?”

 

Pearl’s eyes frantically scanned the room for some form of inspiration, and eventually fell on the leaning table Garnet’s food sat upon.

 

“About what happened to your coffee table. Wasn't it crooked that night I came by with pizza?”

 

“Yes. Amethyst and Opal were play fighting… Opal thought it would be fun to body slam her into the table because she's small,” Garnet said with a shrug, “Now our table’s got a gangster lean. It adds character.”

 

Pearl snorted and shook her head at both Garnet’s words and the picture of Opal and Amethyst’s fight it painted. “Speaking of the pizza, did you even eat it? You left it on the table while I was working on my essay,” she said.

 

“Oh I ate it. Just after you left. Pizza offerings aren't meant to be eaten around the pizza offerer. I didn't even let Amethyst have any,” Garnet said.

 

Pearl shot her an unbelieving look through her previous one of shock at the “pizza offering” reference.

 

“That's not true. She stole two slices, but technically I didn't  _ let _ her have those. She shoved ‘em both in her mouth before I could even get up.”

 

“ _ How _ ? Those slices were huge!”

 

“Amethyst inhales food, Pearl. It's horrifying.”

 

Pearl’s laugh chimed around room as she threw her head back with it, “That sounds disgusting,” she said.

 

Garnet chewed her bite of turkey sandwich and swallowed it before saying, “It was. It was similar to watching a snake’s jaw unhinge and swallow a small deer whole.”

 

“You mean a fawn?”

 

“What?” 

 

“You said a small deer. A baby deer is called a fawn,” Pearl said.

 

“That’s not the matter at hand, Pearl. I'm telling you my roommate’s some sort of mutant and you're worried about the correct name for a small deer,” Garnet faux-lamented as she took another bite of her sandwich, “Never telling you anything again,” she said through a partially full mouth that she covered behind her fist.

 

Pearl giggled down at her lap, and when she looked back up, Garnet was looking at her with mirth in her gaze and a close-lipped smile on her lips.

 

“I missed this,” Pearl said after a stretch of quiet filled with Garnet’s steady chews.

 

“Yeah,” Garnet said after swallowing. She opened her mouth as if to say something else, but instead shoved the words back down by taking a large bite of her sandwich. Whatever she was going to say got swallowed right alongside her food.

 

Instead of pushing any further, Pearl picked up the remote and pressed the Netflix button at the top of the device. She selected Garnet’s account and scrolled to the worst apocalypse movie she could think of. Garnet snorted at her selection.

 

“We’re hate-watching Cabin in the Woods? I see your slandering taste has improved dramatically,” she said with a wry smile.

 

“It was either this or World War Z,” Pearl said.

 

The way Garnet’s lips curled upward in disgust made Pearl laugh in a way that sent joy all the way down to her fingertips. 

 

“Let's hate-watch that next. The way the zombies move in that one is disgusting; I love it,” Garnet said.

 

_ And I love you _ , Pearl thought wistfully. The thought took her off guard and nearly made her drop the remote between her hands, but she cleared her throat quietly and turned back to face the screen. When Garnet offered her the other half of her sandwich, Pearl took it with a thankful smile and warm cheeks.

 

Eighteen years old and sitting beside her first love. The idea would have made her scoff had the butterflies in her stomach not been clogging up her throat.

 

And what did she know about love anyway?

  
Well, nothing, really— and that was the problem, wasn't it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think in a comment or hit me up on tumblr (y'all know where to find me by now).
> 
> Happy Mother's Day to you all (and if you don't celebrate for whatever reason, that's okay too.)
> 
> Much love!


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amethyst gives Pearl a piece of her mind, Garnet gets caught lying about her injury to Bismuth, and honestly everyone needs a nap.

Pearl was entirely invested in their third awful apocalypse movie selection when Amethyst slipped in through the front door. Garnet turned to face her from her spot on the couch as she entered. Amethyst’s dark eyes had lingered on Pearl with an unreadable expression before turning upon Garnet with a quirked eyebrow.

 

“Uh...hey...guys. What's up?”

 

“Ame! Come sit with us. We’re watching  _ 2012 _ ,” Garnet said distractedly.

 

“It's making me wish we  _ had _ died in 2012,” Pearl muttered, drawing a chuckle from Garnet and confused eyes from Amethyst. 

 

“...Yeah? I guess I can chill here for a bit. Surprised to see you here, Pearl,” Amethyst said.

 

“Really? Why?”

 

“I thought you two were, like… done.”

 

Her words drew an awkward and tense silence from the two women whose eyes were firmly on the screen, but seemed not to be watching a thing.

 

Garnet broke the silence first, “We’re still friends. We’re mature enough to be that much.”

 

Amethyst cocked a thick eyebrow in blatant disbelief, but if Garnet saw it, she ignored it. 

 

Anxious to escape the sudden and unspoken fog of tension creeping up her arms, Pearl made a show of looking at her phone and being shocked by the time, “Crap, I need to get to bed soon. I have my physics exam tomorrow morning.”

 

Garnet looked up with an expression of disappointment, but also guilt. 

 

“Why didn't you say anything? I could've helped you study while you were here. I know you can never feel too prepared. I also wouldn't have kept you up this late.”

 

Pearl waved off her words with warmth flooding her cheeks in response to being on the receiving end of Garnet’s care once again.

 

“No! No, don't worry about it. I wanted to spend some time with you.”

 

Amethyst looked between the both of them incredulously. It was an expression that said she could not believe how far back up each other’s asses they had already gotten in such a short reunion time. Pearl actively avoided her gaze.

 

“Let me walk you back to your dorm,” Garnet said, already moving to stand up.

 

“Stop it! Absolutely not with a sprained ankle you aren't,” Pearl said, voice sharper than she had intended with worry.

 

A scoff this time, from Garnet, made Pearl’s eyebrows arch upward in a challenge.

 

“You're keeping that ankle elevated and iced, and not putting unnecessary strain on it— that includes walking almost fifteen minutes to get to my dorm.”

 

Pearl stood up and stretched her arms high above her head, bones making all sorts of cracks as she did so, and drawing a sleepy yawn from her lips.

 

“I don't want you walking by yourself,” Garnet protested before seeming to alight with an idea, “Ame, can you walk with her please?”

 

“ _ Excuse me _ ?” Amethyst asked, thick brows drawn angrily over her nose. Pearl shrunk back from the aggression in her gaze.

 

“Please? I’ll quickpay you ten if you do this for me.” Garnet bribed her, and held eye contact with her best friend from the other side of the couch until Amethyst finally caved and snatched up her jacket off the back of the couch after getting to her feet.

 

“Let's go, Pearl.”

 

The way that Amethyst relented with a heavy sigh made Pearl shrink further into herself as she slipped her shoes back on. She hesitated by the door that Amethyst had just swung open as an inexplicable urge to lean over the back of the couch and press a kiss to the top of Garnet’s head took her off guard. 

 

“Pearl, come on!” Amethyst’s voice was muted a bit from the other side of the wall, and Pearl realized that she was already halfway down the hallway and to the elevator.

 

“I’ll text you? Remember what I said about your ankle, I don’t want you to interfere with the healing-”

 

“ _ Pearl _ . I’ll be fine,” Garnet laughed amusedly, “Go before Amethyst walks down without you.”

 

With a jerky nod, Pearl turned to exit and close the door behind her, feeling her stomach twist into knots at the inevitable choices between a cold shoulder or a firm talking to from Garnet’s closest friend.

 

Amethyst was waiting impatiently with a grinding jaw and pursed lips by the elevator doors, the down button glowing a dim orange that meant the elevator car was on its way. Pearl elected not to say anything, hopefully dragging their mutual silence out all the way until they reached her dorm. If she was able to choose between the icy silence and Amethyst’s cutting words, she would absolutely prefer the former. 

 

They made it exactly twelve steps out of the front door of the lobby when Amethyst sighed again in a way that at least forewarned Pearl of the verbal lashing she had been anticipating since Amethyst walked in on her and Garnet’s movie marathon. 

 

“What’s your angle with her?”

 

The question sent a shock of anger down Pearl’s veins, “Are you serious?”

 

Amethyst kept her eyes straight ahead, expression unreadable as she continued walking briskly toward Pearl’s dorm and waited for a serious answer.

 

“You’re honestly suggesting that I would  _ ever  _ manipulate Garnet? Who do you think I am?” Pearl ignored the tugging in the back of her mind that said maybe overcompensating for her previous mistakes to maybe allow for Garnet to give her a second chance, on her own terms of course, was just  _ slightly  _ manipulative. If she squinted.

 

“The same girl that broke her fucking heart, maybe? Or did you forget that part?” Amethyst’s voice was scathing, and Pearl’s steps stuttered in response before stopping entirely.

 

“If you have something you want to say, just say it already.”

 

“Okay,” Amethyst rounded on her, and even though she was significantly shorter, Pearl took half a step backward in fear, “I think you’ve fucked G over enough times for one semester. So, I’m warning you to keep your distance before I  _ make  _ you.”

 

Pearl felt the buzzing in her limbs that she could only associate with the rush of adrenaline that came with being cornered, “Choosing to hang out with me or not to is entirely up to Garnet. If you have a problem with that, talk to her about it, but until  _ she  _ specifically tells me to leave her alone, I’m not going anywhere.” Her words left her mouth with breathless certainty, and her fingers trembled at her sides with how good and  _ terrifying _ it felt to say them.

 

“I think I can make my way back fine from here, thank you,” Pearl murmured after taking a shaky breath. She turned on her heel and walked briskly in the direction of her dorm before Amethyst could get a word past her shock-parted lips.

 

///

 

“Absolutely not.”

 

“ _ Bismuth _ !” Garnet’s voice climbed up several unusual octaves, drawing the attention of several trainers milling about the room they were all in, across the hallway from the gym.

 

She had been trying to convince her coach for several minutes to let her at least participate in the day’s practice, but Bismuth was not budging. For some reason, during all of Garnet’s plotting of how she would fake being uninjured all the way through their huge match against Diamond State, she had miscalculated Amethyst’s ability to keep her mouth shut about the true nature of Garnet’s bodily health.

 

“I don’t wanna hear it, Garnet! You are under my protection as long as you play for me, and on top of that, I  _ personally  _ would never allow any of you to risk exacerbating an injury for the sake of competing!” 

 

The trainers, grad students probably just trying to get their experience in the field, were dutifully pretending not to eavesdrop on the revered Coach Bismuth ripping into her star player. For their part, they at least were making themselves  _ look  _ busy putting away foam rollers and spraying down their equipment.

 

Bismuth knelt down in front of where Garnet was slumped in a cushioned leather seat with her injured ankle propped up on one identical to it right beside to her. A sigh melted her expression into one of maternal sympathy. She placed a large hand on Garnet’s knee and drummed her fingers there as she contemplated what to say.

 

“I know you’re upset, but you have to believe that this is for your own protection. Do you know how much I’d kill to unleash you on those snooty upper crusts? To see their faces the first time you block their right side, or get a kill straight down the line?” Bismuth sighed wistfully and patted Garnet’s knee, “When we played them at the beginning of the season, do you remember how arrogant they were while they beat us in three like it was nothing? I’m pretty sure their back row didn’t even break a sweat with the number of blocks their front row got on us.”

 

Garnet nodded quietly at the memory.

 

“Think about how hard we’ve been working since then, how much more of a fight we can put up now. The team can do that, Garnet. We can still win- you just have to have faith in them to play for you. And besides,” Bismuth tilted her head closer, “One game isn’t worth an entire playing career. Doesn’t matter who it’s against. Okay? We need you to support your teammates right now, not play hero by trying to fight your way to a permanent limp.”

 

Garnet released a heavy sigh eventually and rested her head back against the wall behind her. Mismatched eyes stared directly into the beaming lights in the ceiling until she couldn’t take it anymore, and she blinked rapidly through the splotches of red clouding her vision.

 

“Alright. I’ll back off.”

 

Bismuth’s smile took over half her face as she clamped Garnet on the shoulder in a firm grasp and stood up from her spot on the floor, “I know you will, kid. Go get some rest.”

 

“You don’t want me to sit in on the practice?” Garnet’s voice, despite her agreement, was laced with disappointment.

 

“I could see those bags under your eyes from across the gym- they’d be too distracting. Go sleep. And stop staying up so damn late, Payton. If the pain is that bad, take an Ibuprofen.”

 

Garnet knew the usage of her last name meant business, so she did not object to the command as Bismuth turned and meandered out of the training room and toward the gym where the rest of Garnet’s teammates had surely finished warming up.

 

On her way back to her dorm, limping in a boot that the trainers had practically wrestled onto her foot before she could make her escape, Garnet considered that the reason she had been up so late for so many nights was because she kept tossing and turning trying to figure out her feelings for Pearl. She had gone from being so angry and upset to feeling unsettlingly off balance whenever she was around. The doting over her injury did little to help the little jumps that her stomach still did around her ex-girlfriend, and honestly she would love to get a solid night’s sleep if only she could make sense of the mess in her own mind.

 

“Can I carry that for you?” Pearl’s voice chimed from directly next to Garnet, causing the taller woman to jump and stumble a bit on the bulky boot reaching up from her toes to her calf.

 

Pearl’s thin, yet unsurprisingly toned, arms were steadying her in seconds, and Garnet looked down into endlessly blue eyes and felt her mouth open and close several times while she wracked her brain for a response. 

 

“Carry what?” Was her brilliant question, and Pearl eyed her as if Garnet were the one who had just sidled up out of nowhere and scared the shit out of her.

 

“Your bookbag? Shouldn’t you be at practice, anyway?” Pearl asked, letting Garnet go and extending her hand for the deep maroon bag slung around Garnet’s shoulders.

 

Garnet slid it off and handed it to Pearl with a grateful smile, “Bismuth sent me home. I think Ame snitched about how bad my ankle really is because she isn’t letting me practice. She also thinks I’ve not been getting enough rest, hence my walk of shame back to my dorm.”

 

Pearl matched her slowed strides easily, and shouldered the extra bookbag along with her own smaller one. “You haven’t been sleeping?” Her voice was concerned, and that little detail made some part in Garnet’s chest twinge with something too reminiscent of hope.

 

“It’s not a big deal.”

 

“Of course it is! You already have crazy hours between practices, weight training, classes and games. It’s a wonder you find the time to breathe,” Pearl lamented  _ for  _ her.

 

“This was almost your life, though,” Garnet said.

 

Pearl scoffed, “Yeah, back before I tore my ACL and they were offering me upward of sixty thousand dollars a year to play for them…” She trailed off for a beat, “I suppose when they were offering to pay me that much to run myself into the ground, I had a hard time seeing clearly, too.”

 

“I can see just fine!”

 

“Mhm, right. Despite your perfect eyes,” Pearl stuttered a bit at how it came out as they were making direct eye contact, “erm, I’d like to offer to get you inside and comfortable so you can catch up on your rest.”

 

Garnet must have been quiet for too long, because Pearl hastily followed her offer up with, “It’s entirely up to you, of course! I just realize how important rest is to a college student in general, let alone a student athlete, and I really can’t stand the thought of you damaging your body any further-”

 

“Pearl, breathe,” Garnet smiled around a throaty chuckle, “I’ll let you take care of me.”

 

And those words were really the only ones Pearl needed to hear before she switched into complete “Doting Girlfriend” mode.

 

Garnet was half asleep by the time Pearl was finally done with her. Garnet’s brand of relaxation had included a scalding hot shower, which Pearl helped maneuver her ankle in and out of with only a handful of blushing cheeks and awkward laughing, three expertly made grilled cheeses, and the tucked in warmth of her bed beneath her fluffiest comforter. 

 

Pearl was moving to close the blinds, bathing the room in mostly darkness, when Garnet murmured something unintelligible from where she had buried herself within her own pillows. 

 

“Hm?” Pearl hummed, stepping closer to the bed.

 

“Don’t leave,” Garnet said, her voice nothing but a sleepy murmur.

 

The heat suffusing in Pearl’s cheeks reminded her that she was only Garnet’s  _ friend _ . Nothing more. She lost that title a while ago, whether she decided to play the role of a doting girlfriend for her injured ex or not.

 

“I’ll just be in the living room-”

 

She was cut off by Garnet’s warm hand snaking out from beneath the covers and gripping Pearl’s wrist in her mostly limp grasp. There was no way that she was anything more than partially conscious with a grip that flimsy.

 

“C’mere.”

 

A sigh, “Garnet, I have a feeling you’re going to regret this later.”

 

“I’m sleepy, Pearl, not drunk,” and right there was where Garnet had sounded more lucid than she had since Pearl had so soothingly and lovingly tucked her in.

 

“Well, actually, being sleep deprived has a similar effect on lowering one’s inhibitions- oh!” Garnet wasted no more time, yanking Pearl onto the poor full mattress with more force than either had anticipated.

 

“This was what you wanted, isn’t it?” Garnet’s voice was barely anything but a warm breath on the shell of Pearl’s ear. She shivered hard enough for Garnet to notice, if the quirked eyebrow up at her heated face was any indication.

 

“I- uhm, I would never-” Pearl grasped for words, but none were forthcoming except for the ones that would drag her into even more dangerous territory, like:

 

_ Your eyes are stunning. _

 

_ Of course this was what I wanted- I always wanted you. _

 

and  _ Can we try again? _

 

But she would be damned if she let any of that escape past her lips, and instead settled for stuttering like the helpless teenager she was.

 

“It’s okay, Pearl. It’s okay to want to be here with me in this moment. If I wanted you gone, I would have kicked you out by now,” Garnet placated her.

 

“No, you wouldn’t have. You’re too nice.”

 

“No such thing as  _ too _ nice. And you’re right. I would have just had you wait in the living room until I woke up and could walk you back to your dorm,” Garnet shifted until her arms were firmly around Pearl’s waist, and she was lying atop the comforter and between Garnet’s legs. It took everything in Pearl to keep her upper body from collapsing down onto Garnet’s and melting fully into the embrace. Her elbows sunk the mattress down a bit on either side of Garnet’s chest, and there was a part of her that knew as soon as she let go, she would never get back up.

 

“You know I wouldn’t let you walk me.”

 

Garnet’s laugh was a puff of breath on Pearl’s long neck. She shivered again.

 

“I would have gotten Ame to do it, then.”

 

And just like that, Pearl remembered the stern talk that Amethyst had with her outside of Garnet’s dorm building. The threats she had gotten still stung, but ultimately nothing could have kept her away from this moment right now.

 

“Garnet what are we doing?” Pearl’s voice was full of exasperation and sleepiness and distress, but Garnet’s full lips were already on the delicate curve of her jaw with comforting words.

 

“Shh… We don’t have to be doing anything. Just be here with me, please?”

 

And Pearl can’t say no to those eyes, not when they’re fluttering with sleep and looking at her like the safest place in the world is right beneath Pearl’s body. And so she lets herself lie entirely on top of Garnet and curl her hands up until they grip at the strong, yet so  _ very _ soft skin of Garnet’s shoulders. Her head finds its place in the crook of Garnet’s neck, and the kiss that she places right above her collarbone drives a contented sigh right from between her favorite full lips.

 

It’s just nap.

 

And it’s the most simple and domestic thing that she had ever experienced in her short love life, but it is also enough to remind her that this is something she has to keep fighting for. Garnet is someone she will always keep fighting for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I MISSED YOU ALL!
> 
> So sorry for the (two month?) delay after I had only claimed the break would be two weeks on tumblr. Between graduation, getting ready for college and finally getting a break from the student athlete life, I think I got a bit too indulgent with my free time and spent none of it with this story. 
> 
> Hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and I'm crossing my fingers that you're all still along for the ride. Thanks for reading as always, and much love!

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this sitting in my back pocket for a while, and I'm really excited to release the first chapter. Let me know what you think, or any questions you have, here in a comment or down at my tumblr: bakedgarnet.tumblr.com
> 
> Concept art for this work: http://bakedgarnet.tumblr.com/post/154272182611/quick-concept-sketches-for-my-upcoming-volleyball


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